Sri Lanka has imposed enhanced visa restrictions for North Korean nationals who wish to enter the country in compliance with sanctions implemented by the UN Security Council against North Korea for its nuclear and missile development.
First reported by South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency, Sri Lanka submitted an implementation report for Resolution 2321—which strengthened sanctions against North Korea in response to the country’s continual nuclear testing and was adopted unanimously last year—to the Security Council on 15 September 2017.
According to the report,“North Korean nationals are no longer eligible to apply for visas through Sri Lanka’s online Electronic Travel Authorization System.”
As well, the report noted that immigration and emigration authorities have been ordered to ensure that specific North Korean individuals on the sanctions list are not permitted to enter Sri Lanka at all. And it requested that authorities exercise vigilance when North Koreans, even those not on the sanctions list, request to enter the country even for transit purposes.
According to Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Mahishini Colonne, these visa restrictions have been in place for over a year.
They are only now being reported in the aftermath of Sri Lanka submitting its implementation report in September.