Trump extends US travel ban to North Korea and Venezuela in new 8-nation list

United States President Donald Trump has issued a new travel ban which includes North Korea, Venezuela and Chad among the list of eight countries. Travel for citizens of the countries in the ban list to the US will be severely restricted.

Trump cited poor security and lack of cooperation with the US authorities as the reason for including these countries on the travel ban list.

The new restrictions were ordered by the US President on Sunday, in an effort to replace the expiring travel ban which had thrown him into political and legal battles. Trump had faced severe criticism for allegedly attempting to block Muslims from entering the US.

Trump's controversial travel ban included all Muslim-majority countries, whose citizens were restricted from entering the US for a certain period of time. The ban sparked protests across the world, and lawsuits were filed against the ruling in the US, with judges putting a temporary stay on the ban.

"Making America Safe is my number one priority. We will not admit those into our country we cannot safely vet," Trump said in a tweet.

Sudan, one of the six majority-Muslim countries on the original travel ban, however, has been removed from the list. Reports state that under the new travel restrictions, at least eight countries now have either complete or partial blocks on travel to the US.

Complete travel bans were reportedly imposed on the nationals from North Korea and Chad, while limited travel restrictions were imposed on Venezuela -- mainly officials from a list of government agencies and their families.

Other countries included in the ban list were Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen.

Trump, in a presidential order, said that action was required to press the nations to improve security procedures for identifying their nationals and sharing information with the United States. He also added that the list was formulated to  "advance foreign policy, national security and counter-terrorism objectives," PTI reported.

"These restrictions are both vital to national security and conditions-based, not time-based," a senior administration official said. The countries in the list can be removed if they can rise to US traveller vetting standards.