North Korea accuses detained Australian student Alek Sigley of spying

North Korea says Alek Sigley, who was detained for over a week before being released on Thursday, had been engaged in “spying acts” during his time as a student at Kim Il Sung University in North Korea’s capital of Pyongyang.

The 29-year-old had been working on his Master’s degree in Korean Literature at North Korea’s top university, the alma mater of many of North Korea’s elite including leader Kim Jong Un, before he was reported missing on June 25. His family said in a statement that he had “not been in digital contact with friends and family since Tuesday morning Australian time,” which they flagged as unusual behavior.

Sigley was released from detention in North Korea on Thursday morning, 10 days after his initial disappearance, and was reunited with his wife, Yuka in Tokyo. In a statement on Thursday, Sigley said he was “OK” but added that he would not be discussing what happened to him.

North Korean state media on Saturday accused Sigley of committing “spying acts” against the state by providing photos and videos to media critical of the state.

“Investigation revealed that at the instigation of the NK News and other anti-DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) media he handed over several times the data and photos he collected and analyzed while combing Pyongyang by making use of the identity card of a foreign student,” state news Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Saturday.

“He honestly admitted his spying acts of systematically collecting and offering data about the domestic situation of the DPRK and repeatedly asked for pardon, apologizing for encroachment upon the sovereignty of the DPRK.”

Sigley, who benefited from special treatment as a foreign student in North Korea, has written op-eds in several outlets, including in the Guardian, the Independent Australian, and NK News, about his experiences.

Read more: Here’s everything we know about Alek Sigley, an Australian university student and tour guide reportedly detained in North Korea

NK News, an independent media site that provides news and analyses on North Korea, defended Sigley’s columns on its site, rejecting the accusation that his work was biased against North Korea.

“Alek Sigley’s well-read columns presented an apolitical and insightful view of life in Pyongyang which we published in a bid to show vignettes of ordinary daily life in the capital to our readers,” CEO of NK News Chad O’Carroll said in a statement on Saturday.

“The six articles Alek published represent the full extent of his work with us and the idea that those columns, published transparently under his name between January and April 2019, are ‘anti-state’ in nature is a misrepresentation which we reject.”

Sigley previously denied he supported the politics of North Korea

Sigley has been living in North Korea for several years and founded an educational tour company called Tongil Tours in 2013. Before beginning his studies at Kim Il Sung University in 2018, Sigley studied at universities across Japan, China, Australia, and South Korea. According to his tour’s website, Sigley speaks English, Mandarin, Korean, and Japanese.

Despite social media being largely banned in North Korea, Sigley was still able to access Twitter and Facebook, where he frequently uploaded photos and videos of his experiences.

Sigley told American public radio organization PRI in February that North Korean authorities had not complained or attempted to censor his posts, allowing him much more digital freedom than an average North Korean. He also said he was allowed to roam around the capital without the need for an organized tour or a government-imposed guardian as most other foreign visitors are required.

Still, Sigley dismissed criticism that his social media posts promoted North Korea and ignored the atrocities committed in the notoriously reclusive state.

“Simply going to a place and being there doesn’t mean I support everything about the politics there,” he told PRI.