A US student who supposedly died in China in 2004 has reportedly turned up alive in North Korea after being kidnapped to serve as Kim Jong Un's personal tutor.

David Sneddon of Brigham Young University disappeared in Yunnan Province aged 24, in what Chinese police said was probably a hiking accident.

But the reality, according to Choi Sung-yong, head of South Korea's Abductees' Family Union, is that he was kidnapped to be an English tutor to the then-heir to North Korea Yahoo News Japan reported Wednesday.

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Vanished: David Sneddon (pictured) disappeared in 2004 while in Yunnan Province, China. Chinese police said he likely died by accident while hiking, but his body was never found

Kidnapper: A report published Wednesday said Sneddon was in fact kidnapped to teach Kim Jong Un (pictured) English, and that he is still alive and living in the North Korean capital

Sneddon is now living in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang, where he teaches English to children and has a wife and two children, Choi said.

The news comes as relief - but little surprise - to Sneddon's parents, Roy and Kathleen, who have long doubted the official story of their son's disappearance.

'We just knew in our heart that he was alive, so we had to keep fighting,' said Kathleen Sneddon.

Their suspicion was based in part on the fact that Sneddon's body was never found after he was believed to have died in Tiger Leaping Gorge, a canyon on Yunnan's Jinsha River that is highly popular with tourists.

The area is also one of a series of stops on the underground railroad that moves North Korean escapees to South-East Asia.

Hopeful: Sneddon's parents Roy and Kathleen never gave up hope that their son was alive, and continue to campaign for his release

Encouraging: David's parents have been encouraging anyone from outside Utah to write their senators and representatives and demand action. David is pictured above

Sneddon had last been seen on August 14 leaving a Korean restaurant in Shangri-La, a town not far from the Tiger Leaping Gorge trail.

He was reported missing on August 26, when he failed to turn up at the airport in Seoul, South Korea, where he was to meet his brother.

Sneddon's parents believe their son was targeted because of his fluency in Korean, which he used while serving on a Mormon mission in South Korea - but it wasn't always this way.

'We initially thought that China had picked David up thinking he was involved in the underground railroad, because a former companion of his had been teaching a North Korean family in Beijing,' Roy Sneddon explained to Dailymail.com.

Roy and his sons began to visit Yunnan to put up posters and hand out flyers with David's photo, as a way to cajole the Chinese authorities into giving him back.

'We thought they might just say "We made a mistake" if we weren't too confrontational,' he explained.

But a few years on, they were contacted by a man with a very different idea.

Searching: Roy (right) and son James Sneddon walk through Shangri-La in Yunnan Province with placards, seeking their lost relative

Prayers: On the Facebook page dedicated to their son, Sneddon's parents celebrated discovering their son might still be alive - but asked for prayers for the people of North Korea

Around 2011 they were contacted by Chuck Downs, then of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, who had been told of David's disappearance when he met one of the young man's friends.

He invited the couple to Washington, DC, to meet a group of people from Japan who had previously been abducted by North Korea, and might be able to shed some light on their son's fate.

'We said we would pay our own way because we didn't want to be used by the Japanese,' Roy said.

But once they were there they discovered that foreigners being kidnapped by North Korea - especially in Asia - was not as uncommon as might be hoped.

Soon after they appeared on Voice of America, an international radio channel, talking about David's disappearance and got a very surprising call.

Alive: Sneddon (pictured in China), is now living in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang, where he teaches English to children and has a wife and two children, it has been alleged

'I received a phone call from a US citizen near Seoul,' Roy explained. 'He said, "My wife was a defector so I'm in touch with a community of people who left North Korea.

'"They tell me there is someone who matches the description of your son and he's teaching English in Pyongyang."'

It was the confirmation they had hoped for - but they kept their expectations grounded.

And they are even more cautious about the reports that have come through this week.

'Our contact said that this (Yahoo News Japan) reporter is not always accurate,' Kathleen Sneddon said. 'Sometimes he's spot-on and sometimes he's not.

'Right now we're saying we're "Hopefully optimistic."'

Search: The search for Sneddon (pictured in front of karst formations in China) has been ongoing for his parents for the past 12 years - but now it seems it may be approaching an end

Resolution: The Sneddons are also encouraging people from outside Nebraska to ask their representatives and senators to sponsor resolutions to investigate their son's vanishing

In the meantime, The Sneddons are working to promote their son's case.

They operate a website and Facebook page dedicated to sharing stories and information about his disappearance.

And their years of campaigning paid off earlier this year when Utah Representative Chris Stewart (R) and Senator Mike Lee (R) presented a joint Resolution to the House of Representatives and the Senate urging action to find out what happened to Sneddon.

The resolution has already been backed by Marco Rubio, and the couple say it is gaining traction with other politicians.

They are now urging people across America - especially those outside Utah - to contact the offices of their state senators and representatives, particularly their international staff, to ask them to back the bills.

The resolution currently requires three more members of the House of Representatives Forieign Affairs Committee and five more cosponsors in total in order to bring about a vote in the Fall.

Missing: A missing poster produced to help find David in China. His parents have worked to raise awareness of their son's disappearance over the past 12 years

Targeted: The poster on display. David's parents believe their son was targeted because of his fluency in Korean, which he used while serving on a Mormon mission in South Korea

'Even though it may be difficult, it's the duty of the United States government to follow all leads to locate a missing citizen,' Representative Stewart said in a statement.

'The evidence indicates that there are still a lot of unanswered questions about David's disappearance.

'David's family deserves answers to those questions, and until we find those answers I will continue urging the state department to pursue all possible explanations for David's disappearance.'

Searching: David's brothers, Michael (left) and James (right) are seen at Tiger Leaping Gorge in Yunnan, where Sneddon was believed to have vanished

Last seen: Sneddon, pictured, was last seen on August 14 leaving a Korean restaurant in Shangri-La, a town not far from the Tiger Leaping Gorge trail

A spokesman for Stewart said that he continues to push the resolution, and is hopeful that it will be voted on by the House before the end of the year, KUTV reported.

For the Sneddons, who have worked so long to find out what happened to their son, the promise of the resolution is uplifting news.

'This may put some fire in Congress,' Kathleen Sneddon, said.

She added that both she and her husband had already been contacted by a US senator from outside Utah who was eager to make progress.

Early signs are promising: The claims have spurred action on the part of the US Department of State, which announced Wednesday that it would conduct an active search for him in North Korea, Desert News Utah reported.

In the meantime, for the Sneddons, this is just another step in a road they hope will lead to their son coming home.

And Roy Sneddon is hopeful about the future - although he's well aware of the hard work needed to get there.

'I expect that, when all is said and done, we'll have done as much as we can,' he said. 'But standing back we'll say: "It was a miracle. We're glad that we saw it."'

Celebration: Sneddon's family have always believed he would be found alive. In May they shared this Facebook post on what would have been his 36th birthday

'Kidnapped': The state department will conduct an 'active search' for Sneddon. It's believed he has a wife and kids. Pictured: A view of North Korea across the South Korean border