‘Reasons aplenty’ for disappearance of Alek Sigley in North Korea

Alek Sigley, the 29-year-old student missing in North Korea, “did everything right” during his time in the country.

Missing Australian student Alek Sigley. Picture: AAP

Alek Sigley, the 29-year-old student missing in North Korea, “did everything right” during his time in the country, says one of Australia’s leading authorities on the ­secretive state.

Perth USAsia Centre chief executive Gordon Flake says the fact no one has heard from the Australian for more than a week may be for reasons other than him being detained by the regime.

Fears for Mr Sigley have grown since his wife, Yuka ­Morinaga, last spoke to him on Tuesday last week. The Department of Foreign Affairs has been unable to confirm his whereabouts.

A North Asia expert and Korean speaker who has made eight trips to the North, Mr Flake says answers from North Korea about Mr Sigley’s whereabouts may have been delayed as officials ­focused on the sudden meeting on Sunday between US President Donald Trump and North ­Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

“It’s not surprising if the ­answer by North Korea’s Foreign Affairs counterparts is a bit slow in coming,” he said. “Until we know the circumstances, caution is the better part of valour.”

He said the reasons for Mr Sigley’s disappearance could include a simple car accident. Alternatively, anyone operating a business in North Korea could fall foul of authorities or corruption allegations by partners. Mr Sigley set up his own study tour business, Tongil Tours, with North Korean partners in 2013.

“What doesn’t make sense to me is the notion that somehow he’s there as a spy or is subversive,” he said. “Nothing I’ve seen would lead me to believe that, or that North Koreans woke up one day and said ‘we’re going to find ourselves a new hostage’. There’s plenty of others they could go for. Why kill the goose that’s working on your behalf?”

He said he had read Mr Sigley’s favourable posts about life in North Korea, most recently as a graduate student studying ­Korean literature at a university in Pyongyang.

“By all accounts, Alek Sigley wasn’t doing high-risk activity … He’s well-informed and has gone into North Korea with eyes wide open, and seemed to be doing everything right.

“He was studying at Kim Il-sung University, which is the Harvard of North Korea. And looking at everything I’ve seen in the public domain, there’s nothing he’s done that’s remotely controversial. He’s basically trying to put a human face on North Korea. If anything, he’s more of a fellow traveller.”

In a YouTube interview last year, Mr Sigley said he had good relationships with his Korean business partners.

“They’re good friends of mine, very honest and (have) gone out their way to help me,” he said. He added that North Koreans “are not automaton, doctrinaire zealots” and it was safe visiting the country “as long as you don’t go out of your way to do anything illegal”.

Mr Flake said Mr Sigley’s case differed markedly from that of Otto Wambier, a US student who pulled down a propaganda sign in a Pyongyang hotel during a tour in early 2016. Wambier was jailed. He died days after returning to the US.