Whether the United States includes North Korea on its list of countries banned for domestic travel is not a matter of interest, the North's state media reported Tuesday, after Pyongyang was omitted from the list.
The Korean Central News Agency published the response about a week after US President Donald Trump's administration signed a travel ban on 12 countries, including Afghanistan, Myanmar, Haiti, Iran, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, citing protection against "foreign terrorists" and security threats.
According to a news report in March, North Korea and Russia were also among the countries reviewed for the travel ban, but both were omitted from the final list.
Citing a local international affairs analyst, the KCNA reported there is a strange interpretation suggesting North Korea's omission from the list may reflect the US' "carrot" approach toward North Korea to open the door for the resumption of dialogue.
North Korea said whether it was purely for technical reasons or for political purpose, only the US can explain why North Korea was not included on the list, but "one obvious fact is that we are not interested in the least in the matter of entry into the US."
"Even if the present US administration has not placed (North Korea) intentionally on the list of countries subject to entry ban, the DPRK is not interested in it and has no reason to be glad," the KCNA noted. DPRK is the acronym of the official name of the country, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
North Korea will not assess the US actions on the basis of someone's "hopeful observations or subjective interpretation," the KCNA quoted the analyst as saying, adding, "It will face the US on the basis of the reality and by relying on its own independent judgment." (Yonhap)
