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A US student presumed dead for 12 years has reportedly been spotted alive in North Korea after being 'kidnapped' to be Kim Jong-un's personal tutor.

David Sneddon, who attended Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, vanished in China's Yunnan Province on August 14, 2004.

At the time, Chinese police said the 24-year-old, who was on a student exchange programme, likely died in a hiking accident.

But now, it is claimed that he is alive in Pyongyang - after being 'abducted' to work as an English tutor to Kim more than a decade ago.

(Image: HelpFindDavid.com)

(Image: REUTERS)

David is reportedly living in the North Korean capital with a wife and two children.

Choi Sung-yong, the head of South Korea’s Abductees’ Family Union, said new information shows the young man did not die in 2004.

Choi said he was, instead, kidnapped to serve as a personal English tutor to Kim, whose father was then leader of North Korea, Yahoo News Japan reports.

David, who was fluent in Korean at the time of his disappearance, is apparently married to a North Korean woman and still teaches English.

Despite Chinese officials' belief that the Mormon missionary died 12 years ago, his parents , Roy and Kathleen Sneddon, have long thought he was kidnapped.

(Image: HelpFindDavid.com)

(Image: HelpFindDavid.com)

They believe he is 'likely being held captive against his will by the North Korean government', therefore cannot reach out to them.

Roy said the new report regarding his son's whereabouts 'strengthens the contention that what we have said from the beginning about David being in North Korea was in fact correct', according to KU-TV .

The article has even prompted the U.S. Department of State to formally launch a search for David in North Korea, Deseret News reports.

But despite this, Roy and Kathleen remain cautious about the report.

Kathleen, a former university professor, said: "Part of the article may be correct and part of it may be conjecture... we just don't know."

(Image: HelpFindDavid.com)

(Image: HelpFindDavid.com)

David's family has set up a website and Facebook page dedicated to the search for their son, which they frequently update.

At the time the young man went missing, he was studying Mandarin in Beijing as part of his university's exchange programme.

He vanished in Shangri-La in north-western Yunnan province.

David, who has four brothers and six sisters, has been described by his loved ones as a 'skilled backpacker' and 'general sports enthusiast'.

He would now be 35 years old.