1. The Foreign Ministry held the 36^th meeting of the passport policy deliberation commission’s subcommittee on passport use policy on July 12. At the meeting chaired by Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun, the subcommittee deliberated on whether to extend the travel bans on Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Somalia, Afghanistan and parts of the Philippines -- the Zamboanga Peninsula, the Sulu Archipelago, Basilan and the Tawi-Tawi Archipelago; and whether to order a Republic of Korea national to return his/her passport pursuant to the Passport Act for re-entering the country that is on the travel ban list and that he/she had left with the support of the government.

2. After the deliberation, the subcommittee, judging that the instability, poor public security situations and terrorism risks were likely to continue for a considerable period of time in the six countries and the parts of the Philippines, decided to extend the travel bans on them for six months until January 31, 2019

※ Pursuant to Article 17 of the Passport Act, “When deemed necessary to suspend any visit to or sojourn in any specific country or region in order to protect the lives, physical safety and property of people against dangerous circumstances overseas prescribed by Presidential Decree, such as a natural disaster, war, internal disturbance, revolt, terror, the Minister of Foreign Affairs may restrict the use of a passport or prohibit any visit to and sojourn in the relevant country or region (hereinafter referred to as "restrictions, etc. on the use of passports") for a fixed period.”

3. Recently a Korean, without the ROK government permission, re-entered the country that is on the travel ban list and that he/she had left in 2017 by a chartered plane provided by the ROK government as part of its all-out support for the person. Pursuant to the Passport Act, the subcommittee has decided to order the passport holder to return his/her passport to the government.

* unofficial translation