The US plans to ban Americans from traveling to North Korea on July 27, according to Koryo Tours and Young Pioneer Tours, which operate tours in North Korea and talked to BBC. The tour groups said they were informed by the Swedish embassy.
Timing: This comes shortly after American student Otto Warmbier was released from his 18-month sentence in a North Korean prison, after which he was in a coma and died days after returning to the states. It has not been confirmed that this is the reason for the ban.
UPDATE: A State Department spokeswoman confirmed that the State Department will be banning U.S. travel to North Korea and that there will be a noticed published next week, according to Time's Zeke Miller.
The Obama administration prepared a response plan last October in case Russian hackers managed to cause severe disruptions on Election Day. The big details from the copy of the document obtained by TIME:
For nearly all cases of a cyber attack on an election jurisdiction, local authorities — all the way up to the state level — would likely be the ones to respond.
But should "a significant incident" have occurred, the White House authorized the deployment of federal law enforcement agents to the polls, as well as placement of military forces and the National Guard on the ground.
It also would have created a post-election task force to combat fake news stories planted to generate more discord.
