Australian student was spying, North Korea says

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea said Saturday that an Australian student who it detained for a week had spread anti-Pyongyang propaganda and engaged in spying by providing photos and other materials to news outlets with critical views toward the North.

Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency said North Korea deported Alek Sigley on Thursday after he pleaded for forgiveness for his activities, which the agency said had infringed on the country’s sovereignty.

North Korea has been accused in the past of detaining Westerners and using them as political pawns to gain concessions. KCNA provided few details about Sigley’s spying activities other than that he, at the “instigation” of the media outlets, provided them with photos and data that he had collected.

North Korea, which closely monitors visitors and enforces an information blockade on its citizens, is sensitive about controlling the flow of information, which made Sigley, who had a lively presence on Twitter, an anomaly in the country.

Sigley arrived in Tokyo on Thursday after telling reporters he was in “very good” condition, but without saying what happened to him. His father, Gary Sigley, a professor of Asian studies at the University of Western Australia, said his son was treated well in North Korea.

Sigley had been studying at a Pyongyang university and guiding tours in the North Korean capital before disappearing from social media contact.

KCNA said Sigley, who was caught “red-handed” by a “relevant institution” of the North on June 25, had abused his status as a student by “combing” through Pyongyang and providing photos and other information to news sites. The news agency said the North expelled Sigley out of “humanitarian leniency.”

Alek Sigley