Scott Morrison says world leaders at G20 summit have offered assistance to help find Sigley

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The prime minister, Scott Morrison, says Australian authorities are still attempting to establish what happened to Perth student Alek Sigley, who disappeared in North Korea several days ago.

Morrison told reporters at the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, on Saturday evening that he had been in contact with Sigley’s family. He said world leaders at the summit had offered their assistance in attempts to locate the young man.

“I will just be measured in what I say because that is all about using the best opportunities we have right now to, to inform ourselves about where Alek is and what his safety is and where he is being held, in what conditions,” he told reporters on Saturday evening.

Sigley, one of only a handful of western students in the secretive country, last made contact with his Australian family on Tuesday.

His Facebook page, which had been taken down to prevent unnecessary speculation online, briefly reappeared on Saturday.

Sigley’s Twitter account has remained online and members of the public have posted messages of support there.

The 29-year-old Australian moved to North Korea to study for a master’s degree in Korean literature at Kim Il-sung University in Pyongyang, and also ran a small tour company specialising in educational trips to North Korea.

He posted regularly, on a private blog and on social media accounts, about food, fashion and every day life in the secretive state. Guardian Australia published a first-person account by Sigley in March.

Experts have suggested Sigley might have been silenced in the lead-up to US president Donald Trump’s visit to the demilitarised zone (DMZ).

When asked if Trump’s visit to the Korean DMZ presented an opportunity for the Americans to make representations, Morrison said he would not allow the issue to be taken up with other agendas.

“We’re going to work with everybody to secure Alek’s safety and the best way we can do that is doing it quietly, effectively, working with our partners … not allowing this to be taken up into other agendas,” he said. “It’s not about that. It’s simply, for me, about Alek’s safety. Sorry.”



The treatment of foreign citizens by the secretive North has long been a contentious issue.

American student Otto Warmbier died in 2017 after being detained in North Korea for stealing a propaganda poster from his hotel room.