U.S. citizens could have their travel restricted to North Korea following 22-year-old American student Otto Warmbier's death.

Two congressmen, Republican Joe Wilson and Democrat Adam Schiff, have introduced legislation to ban tourist travel to North Korea that's getting a work up in the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

It could receive a vote as soon as next month, a GOP committee aide told CNN.

If the bill becomes law, Americans would have to apply for and receive a license from the Treasury Department to visit the communist country that has denied that foul play led to Warmbier's medical condition before he was returned to the United States and subsequent death.

U.S. citizens could have their travel restricted to North Korea following 22-year-old American student Otto Warmbier's death

North Korea has accused the U.S. of a 'smear campaign' and claims it did not abuse Warmbier while he was in the country's custody.

The Ohio native had been on tourist visit to Pyongyang when he was arrested for stealing a political poster. He was imprisoned for 17 months before the State Department negotiated his return.

Warmbier was released in a coma, with severe brain damage. He died six days after his release.

Schiff, a California Democrat, and Wilson, a South Carolina Republican, want to ensure that a tragedy like Warmbier's doesn't befall an American again.

If the bill becomes law, Americans would have to apply for and receive a license from the Treasury Department to visit the communist country that has denied that foul play led to Warmbier's medical condition before he was returned to the United States and subsequent death

'Time and time again, the North Korean regime has shown that it will treat Americans who visit their nation as hostages to extract concessions from the United States, and put their lives in danger,' Schiff said in a statement announcing the legislation.

The lawmaker said Warmbier's brutal handling is 'tantamount to the murder of a U.S. citizen by North Korea' and it 'brings further into focus the need to go beyond simply warning Americans not to visit this pariah state.'

Ed Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, says the legislation is necessary.

'People watch these websites that guarantee they can go into North Korea and be secure, be safe, these glossy presentations -- and the reality is that many of these visitors end up being used as bargaining chips by the North Korean regime,' the lawmaker said to CNN.

Rep. Eliot Engel, a New York Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs committee, said he's mulling the travel ban legislation and what that would entail.

'I think that we've got to do something to keep our citizens safe,' Engel told CNN. 'It may be a travel ban or it may be something else. So right now, we're sort of discussing what the alternatives might be, if there is a travel ban, would it be in total, would it be a travel ban just with tourism?'

Assuming the bill receive a favorable vote in Royce's committee, it will get a vote in the House, and most likely the Senate. Unless it's passed with a two-thirds vote, it will also need the president's signature to go into effect.

A White House spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment from DailyMail.com.

Vice President Mike Pence suggested in a speech last Thursday in Washington that the administration would be open to such a law, however.

Two congressmen, Republican Joe Wilson and Democrat Adam Schiff, have introduced legislation to ban tourist travel to North Korea that's getting a work up in the House Foreign Affairs Committee

'As the President said just a few days ago, North Korea’s treatment of Otto Warmbier was a disgrace. And I can assure you it only deepens our determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people in the days ahead,' he said.

Wilson, the Republican sponsor of the bill, said in a statement that Warmbier's death 'made it clear that it is past time that we restrict tourist travel to communist, totalitarian North Korea.'

'Every penny that goes to the brutal regime is used in the subjugation of its own people and unlawful detention of American citizens,' he said. 'By cutting off this source of income we can protect American families and deny the regime hard currency.'

At least three Americans are known to be imprisoned in North Korea and 17 have been jailed there in the past decade.

The bipartisan legislation in the House would prohibit most visits but would make exceptions for family reunification and humanitarian work.