North Korea says released Australian student Alek Sigley was ‘spying and spreading propaganda’
- KCNA said Sigley abused his status as a student by providing photos and other information to ‘anti-DPRK’ media
- The Australian arrived in Tokyo on Thursday after telling reporters he was in ‘very good’ condition, without saying what happened to him
He had been studying at a Pyongyang university and guiding tours in the North Korean capital before disappearing from social media contact with family and friends.
KCNA said Sigley, who was caught “red-handed” by a “relevant institution” of the North on June 25, had abused his status as a student by “combing” through Pyongyang and providing photos and other information to news sites such as NK News and other “anti-DPRK” media, a reference to the North’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The news agency said the North expelled Sigley out of “humanitarian leniency.”
“He honestly admitted his spying acts of systematically collecting and offering data about the domestic situation of the DPRK and repeatedly asked for pardon, apologising for encroachment upon the sovereignty of the DPRK,” the agency said.
