Nth Korea says Oz student was spying
North Korea accused an Australian student of engaging in “spying acts” that led to his expulsion after nine days in detention, the country's state media said yesterday.
The claim carried by the state-run Korea Central News Agency was the first comment by North Korea on Alek Sigley, who had been pursuing a master's degree at Kim Il Sung University in Pyongyang since 2018.
The statement appears to send a warning to the small cadre of foreigners in North Korea.
The KCNA report said Sigley, 29, who was released late last week, carried out anti-North Korea propaganda and committed espionage by providing data and photos to foreign media outlets critical of North Korea.
“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 analysed while combing Pyongyang by making use of the identity card of a foreign student,” the KCNA said. The statement claimed Sigley “admitted his spying acts” and “repeatedly asked for pardon” before he was deported.
Sigley, 29, wrote extensively about his life in Pyongyang, on his blog and for international media.
NK News, a North Korea-focused news outlet based in Seoul, rejected
Pyongyang's claim.
“Alek Sigley's well-read columns presented an apolitical and insightful view of life in Pyongyang which we published in a bid to show vignettes of ordinary daily life in the capital to our readers,” chief executive Chad O'Carroll said.