• Wion
  • /World
  • /North Korea says released Australian student committed spying acts: Report

North Korea says released Australian student committed spying acts: Report

North Korea says released Australian student committed spying acts: Report

Alek Sigley

"Investigation revealed that at the instigation of the NK News and other anti-DPRK 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," a Reuters report stated quoting the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Sigley, who had been held in North Korea since June 25, admitted his "spying acts" and repeatedly asked for a pardon, the report said quoting KCNA.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

Sigley, expelled from North Korea on Thursday, arrived in Tokyo via Beijing later the same day.

Sigley - one of a handful of Westerners living and studying in Pyongyang - disappeared without a trace around June 23, prompting concerns about his fate.

For days his family received no word about his whereabouts or wellbeing, stoking fears he may be the latest in a long line of foreigners to be tangled up in North Korea's police state.

Sigley ran a number of social media sites, which usually had a stream of apolitical content about everyday life in one of the world's most secretive nations.

(With inputs from Reuters)

About the Author