News / Koreas

Australian student reported detained in North Korea

Thursday, 27 June 2019 7:07 AM [ Last Update: Thursday, 27 June 2019 7:14 AM ]

Alek Sigley in a photo from his Twitter account (file)

An Australian student has reportedly been detained in North Korea, with authorities in Canberra “urgently” seeking clarification on the issue.

Reports emerged in Australian media on Thursday that Alek Sigley, a 29-year-old postgraduate student at Kim Il Sung University in Pyongyang, had been taken into custody by North Korean officials.

The Sigley family said in a statement that they had not heard from him since Tuesday and could not confirm he had been detained but he had been out of contact for the past 48 hours.

“The situation is that Alek has not been in digital contact with friends and family since Tuesday morning Australian time, which is unusual for him,” the family statement read.

Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) confirmed it was providing consular support to the Sigleys and that his alleged detention case was under investigation.

“The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is providing consular assistance... to the family of an Australian man who has been reported as being detained in North Korea,” a DFAT spokesman said. “The Department is urgently seeking clarification, but owing to our privacy obligations, we will not provide further comment.”

Alek Sigley and his wife, Yuka, on their wedding day in Pyongyang (file photo)

Australia’s Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said on Thursday that the Australian Embassy in South Korea was working with Swedish officials in Pyongyang on the matter.

“There’s obviously some complications in providing consular assistance into North Korea — we work through the Swedish government [and] all of those steps are underway,” he said.

Canberra has no diplomatic mission of its own in Pyongyang and is represented in North Korea by the Swedish Embassy.

Sigley’s disappearance comes at a time when Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is in Japan’s Osaka ahead of a meeting with the US President Donald Trump on the eve of a G20 summit.

The Australian government has advised against non-essential travel to North Korea, where several foreigners have been detained mostly for illegally entering the country or for “committing hostile criminal acts against the state.”

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