What we know about Alek Sigley, the Australian student freed from North Korea

According to his Facebook page, Sigley studied Asian Studies at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, a top international university on the island of Kyushu in southern Japan, from 2008-2009.

He then moved to China to study Chinese at Beijing Language and Culture University until 2010. Upon completion of his studies, he began a 3-year program at Fudan University in Shanghai where he studied philosophy.

It appears Sigley also studied Korean studied at Sogang University, a liberal arts university in Seoul, South Korea, from 2015 to 2017, and studied philosophy at the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia’s capital, until 2018.

Sigley’s Facebook says he took short-term Korean lessons at Kim Hyong Jik University in Pyongyang in 2016 and is currently studying at Kim Il-sung University in North Korea’s capital, the alma mater of many of North Korea’s elite including leader Kim Jong Un.

According to an interview Sigley did with American public radio organization PRI, his thesis at North Korea’s top university will be on romance in North Korean literature. Sigley said it was difficult to get into the university but that his established “connections” inside country deemed him “trustworthy.”

“There’s not really an open application process. The university has a website but, if you go there, you won’t find any information whatsoever on how to apply,” he said in the interview.

“But if you’ve already started a business and made connections, then it becomes possible. They have to decide you’re trustworthy.”