Fears grow for Australian student Alek Sigley missing in North Korea

Australian student Alek Sigley, who is feared to be detained in North Korea after not being in digital contact with friends and family since June 25. Photo / Supplied

Fears are growing that North Korea has detained an Australian student living in Pyongyang, potentially complicating efforts among some Group of 20 nations to get Kim Jong Un's regime back to nuclear talks.

Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it's investigating reports that North Korean authorities have detained Alek Sigley, who runs tours for foreign students and submits social media posts about the country. His family said his detention hasn't been confirmed.

"He has not been in digital contact with friends and family since Tuesday morning Australian time, which is unusual with him," Sigley's family said in a statement on Thursday, according to a tweet from CNN reporter Paula Hancocks.

North Korea stoked ire in the US when college student Otto Warmbier died in 2017 following more than a year of captivity in the Asian country. While talks over the country's nuclear program have stalled since a failed summit in February between Kim and President Donald Trump, the two leaders have exchanged letters this month in a sign that negotiations may start again soon.

Sigley, a postgraduate student of Korean literature at Kim Il Sung University, founded Tongil Tours in Australia in 2013, according to the company's website. It says it's "committed to helping friends from all over the world experience North Korea travel that is safe, educational, and unforgettable." The word "tongil" means "unification" in Korean.

Sigley last posted a blog on the company's website on June 20, reviewing restaurants aimed at Pyongyang's middle-to-upper class. He last sent a tweet on June 24.

New signage above the main entrance to the Ryugyong Hotel bearing its name and logo. A sign that it will soon be open for business?

류경호텔 정문에 걸려있는 새 간판. 간판은 류경호텔의 이름과 상표를 표시하고 있다. 개업날이 다가오고 있는가? pic.twitter.com/bwdDot50ya

— Alek Sigley (@AlekSigley) June 24, 2019

Tongil Tours says it was "the first tour operator to offer concentrated language study at a North Korean university in 2016," with the next such tour due to begin on Friday with an overnight train ride from Beijing to the North Korean capital.

"It's likely that a small action could have been considered a 'mistake' and he has been arrested as a measure of punishment," Choi Soon-mi, a professor on North Korean Studies at Ajou University's Institute for Unification near Seoul, said in a phone interview. "He is an Australian national, and not a US citizen -- so unlike Warmbier, it's unlikely that Sigley will be used by the North Korean regime" as a diplomatic tool, she said.

South Korea's foreign ministry released a statement Thursday saying it's "monitoring the situation, but there is nothing for our government to comment at this point."

Australian Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, who is in Osaka attending this weekend's summit along with Prime Minister Scott Morrison, told reporters the lack of a consulate in North Korea meant Australia's South Korean embassy has reached out to officials in the insular Asian nation. Morrison is due to have dinner Thursday night with Trump in Osaka.

"There is obviously some complications in providing consular assistance into North Korea," Cormann said. "We work through the Swedish government in North Korea and all of these steps are underway."