KR Australian student reportedly detained in North Korea - Here we go again

Australian student reportedly detained in North Korea

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

www.telegraph.co.uk

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.

 

[Scarlett Johansson]

My favorite is Kim Huyn Hui. She blew up an airplane and got off scot free. She now helps South Korea as an agent. Fun shit. And she's genuinely remorseful.

 

[Maggots on a Train v2]

I guess if you're a Lee Harvey Oswald in the making, you have to find some shithole country to idealize, even though you would never actually stay there permanently.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole]

I think the weirdos that join KFA just want to feel important. In western democracies nobodies have to work their way up for years in crappy political campaign jobs or govt positions to get attention or close to power. Just a westerner posting positive press about NK gets you noticed.

I wonder what this guy's deal really was. Was he intelligent, but just acting clueless, which would definitely arouse suspicions? Or was he just a highly educated dumbass?

I think they have something resembling that thing where women gets infatuated with vicious serial killers. The women goes "no no no, he's not like that" and nork-nerds go "no no no, they're not like that". There's probably an aspect where they see it as an opportunity to be benevolent and nurture something good in that horrible piece of shit, man or country, that has their heart fluttering. Don't you think the Australian got tingles from being soooo compassionate and respectful to the downtrodden plebs in North Korea?

He might have thought he could solve their problems with the milk of human kindness, in North Korean prison he better figure out how to drink it or else he will starve.

 

[MirnaMinkoff]

I think they have something resembling that thing where women gets infatuated with vicious serial killers. The women goes "no no no, he's not like that" and nork-nerds go "no no no, they're not like that". There's probably an aspect where they see it as an opportunity to be benevolent and nurture something good in that horrible piece of shit, man or country, that has their heart fluttering. Don't you think the Australian got tingles from being soooo compassionate and respectful to the downtrodden plebs in North Korea?

He might have thought he could solve their problems with the tard cum of human kindness, in North Korean prison he better figure out how to drink it or else he will starve.

I can totally understand having sympathy for the North Korean people, but these assholes are white knighting the dictatorship that let millions of those people starve and will execute entire families for wrongthink or trying to tune their radios to non-NK stations. Their quest to be special has them being a handmaiden for cruelty and evil.

The Australian waxing poetic about the amenities available in NK made me sick. He knows damn well those places are a special niche that only serve the elite govt class that is currently in the Kim family’s good books. There is no cappuccino or luxurious food available for 99% of NK. A big bowl of brown rice makes the average Korean feel like they are living large.

It’s not like these western shitheads don’t know this. They know how the average NK lives but chose to pretend how a tiny elite class of NK live is representative of the entire country.

The worst part is these shitbags have looked into the eyes of and spoken to average NK people and seen their terror. (Average NK citizen are extremely fearful of any encounters with foreigners because they know govt stooges are listening to their every word and one wrong answer can mean prison or death.)

 

[PantsFreeZone]

This is the future liberals want.

Also, if you are going to do a cultural exchange program, why would you choose North Korea? Are you trying to appropriate starvation?

This shit reminds me of those retards that want to prove that humans are generally good so they backpack or bike ride through Africa or the Middle East and everyone acts surprised when they wind up on Live Leaks with their heads cut off.

 

[Fork Cartel]

I heard Australian student and was hoping it’d be one of those twits that made The Haircut film, would serve them right

 

[Shiversblood]

I've done some extremely dangerous and rather exceptional things in my life and I've considered, but ultimately did not go through with others like visiting NK or or becoming a war tourist for one simple reason. When you do shit like go to North Korea or join the PKK in Syria, you have no back up. You have no out and the consequences are the most dire you can think of. Sure the State Department will probably get to your ass eventually, but good fucking luck until then. Hope you enjoy getting tortured and maybe you won't be dead before something happens.

Shit's fun until it's not fun anymore.

Dude what the hell? Are you a terrorist or something? The FBI needs to be looking into you man. You are not right. You need to be in Guantanamo bay. Or sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole for attempted terrorism.

You actually considered going to Syria to fight for isis? You just made a mistake making this post buddy.

 

[JosephTX]

"Japanese born wife" is code for North Korean, fwiw. Most of Japan's Korean community look to the north instead of the south for historical reasons (it unironically was best Korea back in the 40s and 50s) and, indeed, are North Korean citizens since Japan does not have birthright citizenship.

Actually North Korea had a better economy than South Korea until the early 1980s

 

[break these cuffs]

Dude what the hell? Are you a terrorist or something? The FBI needs to be looking into you man. You are not right. You need to be in Guantanamo bay. Or sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole for attempted terrorism.

You actually considered going to Syria to fight for isis? You just made a mistake making this post buddy.

P K K
I S I S
Can you spot the difference? These don't even have similar letters. One is a United States sponsored terrorist group. The other is an Israeli one.

 

[not william stenchever]

Dude what the hell? Are you a terrorist or something? The FBI needs to be looking into you man. You are not right. You need to be in Guantanamo bay. Or sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole for attempted terrorism.

You actually considered going to Syria to fight for isis? You just made a mistake making this post buddy.

Have you considered that he may have been presenting a hypothetical? People have gone to fight ISIS alongside the Kurds and as he pointed out that's a very risky choice to make.

 

[millais]

After intervention by the Swedish diplomatic team in Pyongyang, the North Koreans have let him go

Australian released from North Korean detention

Alek Sigley was freed after a meeting between Swedish diplomats and the North Korean government.

www.bbc.com

 

[Mike Hunt]

After intervention by the Swedish diplomatic team in Pyongyang, the North Koreans have let him go

Australian released from North Korean detention

Alek Sigley was freed after a meeting between Swedish diplomats and the North Korean government.

www.bbc.com

Probably got traded for some luxury goods provided by the Aussies. Also, I have a feeling Sigley will be back in Best Korea soon. Gotta get those IG likes, man.