Australian Alek Sigley Released From Detention in North Korea

(Bloomberg) -- Alek Sigley, an Australian who had been living in Pyongyang, was “safe and well” after being released from detention in North Korea, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said.

“We all couldn’t be more pleased,” Morrison told parliament on Thursday, thanking Swedish authorities for their help in negotiating for his release. Sigley, 29, was later filmed smiling as he walked through Beijing’s airport; the prime minister subsequently confirmed he was in Australia’s embassy in the Chinese capital.

Sigley -- a postgraduate student of Korean literature at Kim Il Sung University -- ran tours for foreign students and posted about the country on social media until going missing on June 24 and failing to contact his family.

His release is a relief to his family and Australian authorities, with Morrison raising the issue with several leaders at last weekend’s Group of 20 meetings in Osaka, Japan. North Korea stoked ire in the U.S. when college student Otto Warmbier died in 2017 following more than a year of captivity in the Asian country.

Asked by reporters if he was alright as he walked through Beijing’s airport on Thursday, Sigley replied “I’m very good” and that he felt “great.”

Sigley’s father, in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corp. in Perth, said his son was “in very good spirits, he’s been treated well.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Jason Scott in Canberra at jscott14@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ruth Pollard at rpollard2@bloomberg.net, Brendan Scott

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