Detention of Alek Sigley

Alek Sigley is an Australian national who was detained in North Korea in 2019 on espionage charges. He was released within a fortnight and expelled from the country.

Early life Sigley's father is Australian and his mother is Chinese. He finished school in Perth, Australia.

North Korea Sigley visited the country as an exchange student in 2012. Sigley's tour company set itself apart from others by offering language classes from 2016 onwards. The first was held after the detention of Otto Warmbier, with Sigley in attendance as one of the participants. Guests of the wedding included South Korean celebrities Nikolai Johnsen and Carlos Gorito and Russian scholar Andrei Lankov. Sigley is said to have travelled to North Korea at least ten times before electing to enroll in tertiary education there.

Swedish politician Kent Härstedt was responsible for negotiating the release of Sigley. Upon being released from detention, Sigley travelled to Beijing, then Tokyo. Before his expulsion from North Korea, Sigley was particularly keen on sharing photos of his trips on his tour company website and blogging about his experiences on the same website as well as news outlets such as The Guardian's opinion section and NK News. It has been suggested his contributions to NK News might have been the reason for his detention. NK News have confirmed this, but denied allegations that Sigley's articles were anti-DPRK or political in any way. After being released from detention, Sigley announced that his tour company would no longer be offering tours to the country. His business partner Michelle Joyce noted that their tour company hoped to re-establish tours to the country in the future. She also believed Sigley intends to return to North Korea.