Fears for Australian student Alek Sigley missing in North Korea

The reported arrest of Australian Alek Sigley in North Korea comes almost two years to the day after US college student Otto Warmbier died after 15 months in a North Korean jail.

Australian Alek Sigley’s reported arrest in Pyongyang comes almost two years to the day after US college student Otto Warmbier died following 15 months in a North Korean jail.

Warmbier was sent home in a vegetative state in June, 2017 and died six days later.

The 22-year-old had been sentenced to 15 years hard labour in 2016 for allegedly trying to steal a propaganda poster from his hotel room.

The spectre of his death — two years ago last week — hangs over the disappearance of 29-year-old Alek Sigley, an Australian man from Perth who had been studying at a Pyongyang university.

Warmbier had been in a coma for more than a year after receiving a brain injury from an unknown cause shortly after his arrest.

‘People might say he’s kind of naive’

Australian student vanishes in North Korea

Australian student Alek Sigley has reportedly been detained in North Korea. Picture: Courtesy of the Sigley family/AFP

Pyongyang claimed the coma had been caused by botulism and a sleeping pill.

A coroner in the US found no evidence he had been tortured but did not rule out the possibility.

Experts have told News Corp Australia Mr Warmbier’s case was unusual and that foreign detainees were more likely to be treated as a “bargaining chip”.

But conditions in North Korean prisons for foreign detainees are harrowing, according to US missionary Kenneth Bae who was arrested in 2012 for acts “hostile to the republic”.

He describes facing interrogations from 8am to 11pm for the first four weeks of his detention, followed by a life of hard labour on a farm, in a 2016 book.

Other survivors have described being “worked like animals” in “unspeakable” conditions, receiving insufficient food and contracting gangrene from cuts to their feet after being refused shoes.

US student Otto Frederick Warmbier. Picture: AFP/KCNA/ KCNA VIA KNS

Amnesty International estimates up to 120,000 people remain in detention in four known political prison camps in North Korea and are subjected to forced labour as well as torture.

Australian experts on North Korea were hopeful of a positive outcome for Mr Sigley, noting his case was very different to Mr Warmbier’s.

Mr Sigley has operated tours to the country for years and frequently posted positive glimpses of life in Pyongyang on social media.

Lowy Institute Korea expert Richard McGregor described him as a “phenomenon”, a “cult figure”, and a “real force for people-to-people relations” with North Korea.

“He’s provided a different view of the country just through his social media, tweeting out everyday interactions, pizza restaurants, karaoke bars, all done with great love and exuberance,” Mr McGregor told News Corp Australia.

A post on Alek Sigley’s Facebook page four days ago. Picture: Facebook

“But North Korea is, and has been for decades, a highly secretive country and there’s no doubt that some people in their security services would see almost any disclosure of information unmediated by them to be a potential breach of national security.

“I don’t know whether it’s something as simple as that, that they don’t know how to handle someone as novel as him, or whether it’s hostage taking of some kind but I can’t see why they would hostage take an Australian.

“There’s nothing going on they want leverage over Australia for.”

International relations expert Euan Graham, from La Trobe Asia, warned against speculation that Mr Sigley’s reported arrest could have been timed to coincide with the G20, which Prime Minister Scott Morrison will attend with US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping this weekend.

Alek Sigley had been studying at a Pyongyang university. Picture: Facebook via AAP

“I think Australia will do everything it can to make sure Alek Sigley doesn’t become a pawn in the wider game,” Dr Graham said.

He agreed there were “clear differences” with Mr Warmbier’s case, noting Mr Sigley was a student, was legally in the country, spoke Korean and had “a steady output of fairly positive tweets and Facebook posts around popular culture, food and other non-controversial areas”.

Originally published as Fears for Australian student Alek Sigley missing in North Korea