An Australian student who has disappeared in North Korea’s capital Pyongyang has been released from custody in the authoritarian state. The 29-year-old is safe and well, Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison said today.
He thanked the Swedish authorities for their help in the matter. According to a media report, the student should now be in China and later travel to Japan, where his wife lives.
Worried Australia Prime Minister
The student from Perth has been missing since the beginning of last week. He last had contact with his family and friends on June 24th. According to various media reports, the Australian had been arrested.
Morrison said „very worried“ about the disappearance of the 29-year-old at the weekend on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Japan.
The student is said to be the only Australian living permanently in North Korea. He studies Korean literature at the University of Pyongyang. He also operates a travel agency called Tongil Tours, which offers educational travel in the East Asian country.
In the past, there have been similar cases of arrests of Western students: in 2016, for example, the US student Otto Warmbier was arrested. In North Korean detention, he went into a coma under unclear circumstances and died in June 2017 shortly after his return to the United States.
