BAN ON FOREIGNERS TILL FEBRUARY

According to South Korean media today, North Korea will ban foreigners from the country beginning on 20 December and continuing through early February of 2010. Pyongyang typically bans foreigners for a couple of days at the end and beginning of the year due to Chinese border guards leaving their posts to celebrate the New Year holidays. The ban could be put in place to control the unrest that was reported in the country due to the currency revaluation that took place earlier in December 2009.