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Australian student reportedly detained in North Korea

The Australian media on Thursday reported that friends of Mr Sigley, who hails from Perth in western Australia, had reported him missing earlier this week. 
The Australian media on Thursday reported that friends of Mr Sigley, who hails from Perth in western Australia, had reported him missing earlier this week.

Australia on Thursday said it was “urgently seeking clarification” about reports that one of its citizens had been detained in North Korea.

Korean-language media named the man as Alek Sigley, 29, one of only a handful of Western students at Kim Il Sung university, who also runs Tongil Tours, a company which has specialised since 2013 in educational and cultural exchanges in North Korea for groups of foreign tourists.

Mr Sigley, who has been a resident of Pyongyang since early 2018 and who is believed to be the only Australian living in the hermit kingdom, studies contemporary North Korean literature and has written regularly for Western media outlets about his day to day experiences.

Reports of his disappearance began to emerge on social media late on Wednesday evening. The Australian media on Thursday reported that friends of Mr Sigley, who hails from Perth in western Australia, had reported him missing earlier this week.

The Australian foreign ministry would not confirm his identity but said in a statement that it was providing consular assistance to “the family of an Australian man who has been reported as detained in North Korea.” It added: “Owing to our privacy obligations we will not provide further comment.”

Australia does not have an official diplomatic presence in North Korea, but consular assistance would be provided in this case by Sweden.

A spokesperson for the Swedish foreign ministry told The Telegraph that Sweden “is aware of the matter and is dealing with it within the framework of our bilateral agreement with Australia.” The official said the ministry would “not comment on individual consular cases.”

The treatment of foreign citizens, most usually from the United States, by the secretive North has been a contentious issue over the years. Some have been held as prisoners for extended periods.

The death of American student Otto Warmbier in 2017, who had fallen into a coma during his 17-month detention for allegedly trying to steal a propaganda poster raised tensions between Washington and Pyongyang, who were already edging closer to war over the North’s nuclear weapons programme.

Those tensions were somewhat relieved by a historic summit between Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump, the US president, on nuclear disarmament, but US citizens remain subject to a travel ban to North Korea.

The latest incident will likely dominate the agenda of Scott Morrison, the Australian prime minister, when he travels to Japan for the G20 summit from Friday. Morrison is expected to meet Trump during the trip to discuss, among other things, North Korea.

The normally prolific Twitter account run by Mr Sigley fell silent two days ago. His last tweet made reference to the possible opening of the pyramid-shaped Ryugyong hotel in central Pyongyang.

Mr Sigley’s social media account focussed largely on providing snippets of daily life inside North Korea where, as a student, he had more leeway to roam the capital city than visitors on strictly-controlled tours.

Recently he posted pictures of North Korea’s Olympic uniforms and multiple photos of food, revealing that kimchi and chocolate pizzas were readily available in Pyongyang restaurants.

Earlier this year he wrote a series of columns for the NK News website about his experiences in Pyongyang, ranging from observations on restaurants to fashion trends.

The site reported that friends and family of Mr Sigley, a fluent Mandarin and Korean speaker, had been unable to reach him since Tuesday morning, adding that there were no details about why he may have been suddenly detained.

“Sigley is an astute and valuable observer of North Korea issues and we are surprised by reports of his sudden detention,” said Chad O’Carroll, CEO of the Korea Risk Group, which produces NK News. “We sincerely hope a rapid release can be secured by relevant authorities”.

Before studying in the North, Mr Sigley had visited the country multiple times as a tour operator and chose to host his wedding to his Japanese-born wife in Pyongyang.

In an article in the Guardian in March he wrote of his interactions with local students and how North Korea was a country in transition, with a growing number of mobile phone users.

“As a long-term foreign resident on a student visa, I have nearly unprecedented access to Pyongyang. I’m free to wander around the city, without anyone accompanying me. Interaction with locals can be limited at times, but I can shop and dine almost anywhere I want,” he said.

Mr Sigley last year told Sky News that he was not concerned about being monitored as he was sensible about online posts.  "I've never felt threatened and this whole year has been a period of rapprochement,” he said.