The U.S. State Department said on Thursday that it will extend its ban on U.S. citizens' travel to North Korea by a year. 

The department said that the ban, which is set to expire on Friday, will be extended through August 31st next year citing continued concerns about the threat of arrest and long-term detention of U.S. nationals in the country.

The ban went into effect on September first last year after the death of Otto Warmbier, an American college student who returned from North Korea in a coma.

The move comes after a planned visit by the top U.S. diplomat to North Korea was scrapped last week amid a stalemate in nuclear talks between Washington and Pyongyang.

[Photo : YONHAP News]