World leaders offer to help find Alek Sigley, Australian missing in North Korea

Scott Morrison has spoken with Alek Sigley’s family as world leaders offered to help Australia locate the student who vanished in North Korea earlier this week.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says he’s spoken to the family of a Perth man who is thought to have been detained in North Korea.

World leaders have offered to help Australia locate Alek Sigley amid mounting concern about the man’s fate.

It is understood the last contact relatives had with the 29-year-old Australian was on Tuesday, when the tour guide and blogger suddenly went silent on social media.

Mr Morrison confirmed he’d been in “direct contact” with Mr Sigley’s family but said he would be measured in his public statements.

He said the best way forward would be to “quietly” and “actively” working with international partners to “bring him home”.

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Scott Morrison said Alek Sigley had been discussed by world leaders attending the G20 summit in Osaka including Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Picture: AP

The PM confirmed he has spoken directly with Alek Sigley’s family. Picture: AAP

“That’s all about using the best opportunities we have right now to inform ourselves about where Alek is and what his safety is and where he’s being held and in what conditions,” Mr Morrison said.

“My concern is simply for his welfare.”

Mr Sigley’s Tokyo-based wife Yuka Morinaga last spoke to him on Monday.

Mr Morrison said he’d had “nothing but support” from his international counterparts at the G20 summit in Osaka.

Asked if he would ask US President Donald Trump to raise Mr Sigley’s situation with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Mr Morrison said he was “going to work with everyone to secure Alek’s safety”.

Diplomats are still urgently trying to locate the 29-year-old student after reports emerged about his possible arrest at Kim Il Sung University in Pyongyang on Thursday.

The Prime Minister spoke to Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe about Mr Sigley’s case on Thursday following reports renowned Japanese sushi chef Kenji Fujimoto, who had worked for Kim Jong-un’s father, had also vanished in Pyongyang.

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No word on Australian Alek Sigley’s welfare yet. Picture: Twitter/Supplied

Other world leaders at the summit have offered assistance and expressed concern for the missing Australian, whose disappearance comes two years after US college student Otto Warmbier died following his detention in North Korea.

Mr Morrison said the offers for help had been “very genuine”.

“My thoughts are with him and his wife, who is Japanese, and his family,” he told reporters in Japan.

“Our key focus at the moment is to ascertain precisely where Alek is and in what circumstances.”

Mr Morrison said he was not able to raise the issue with China’s President Xi Jinping during their brief meeting.

Scott Morrison has spoken to Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe regarding Mr Sigley’s disappearance. Picture: AFP

Mr Sigley’s friend — Australian National University North Korea expert Dr Leonid Petrov — has offered a political explanation for the Australian’s sudden silence, given his history as an active writer and blogger about life in reclusive North Korea.

Dr Petrov believes North Korea may have shut down his friend’s communication channels ahead of Donald Trump’s expected visit on Sunday to the demilitarised zone that separates North and South Korea.

Mr Trump has requested a meeting with Kim during his visit.

“I don’t think there is any danger to his wellbeing. Perhaps he is being deliberately cut off from means of communication. It is a normal practice,” he told the ABC.

“Foreigners, when they have a high profile in North Korea, may be screened and also potentially they may be asked not be in contact with the rest of the world when something significant is happening in Korea.”

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It’s believed Alek Sigley has been detained in North Korea. Picture: Twitter/Supplied

A spokesman for Mr Sigley’s family in Perth said they had disabled his social media accounts to “limit unnecessary speculation and commentary on those channels” while Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade officials continued to search for him.

Mr Sigley, who was studying for a masters in Korean literature, has not been in contact with them or posted on social media or his blog since Monday.

“Alek’s family hope to re-establish contact with him soon,” the spokesman said.

Mr Sigley’s wife Yuka Morinaga, a software developer in Tokyo, was also waiting for news.

On Thursday night, she said she hadn’t noticed “anything weird” when they last exchanged messages on Monday.

DFAT continues to work with officials at the Swedish embassy in Pyongyang to locate Mr Sigley.

Alek Sigley’s wife Yuka Morinaga told News Corp Australia she didn’t notice “anything weird” in their last conversation on Monday. Picture: Anna Cock Gibson for News Corp Australia

Originally published as World leaders offer to help find Alek Sigley, Australian missing in North Korea