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2019-07-05 China-Japan-Koreas
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Australian Student Detained in N. Korea 'Released, Safe'
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[AnNahar] A 29-year-old Australian student detained in North Korea
...hereditary Communist monarchy distinguished by its truculence and periodic acts of violence. Distinguishing features include Songun (Army First) policy, which involves feeding the army before anyone but the Dear Leadership, and Juche, which is Kim Jong Il's personal interpretation of Marxism-Leninism, which he told everybody was brilliant. In 1950 the industrialized North invaded agrarian South Korea. Twenty-one countries of the United Nations eventually contributed to the UN force opposing the invasion, with the United States providing around 90% of the military personnel. Seventy years later the economic results are in and it doesn't look good for Juche...
surfaced in Beijing airport on Thursday, saying he was in "very good" spirits after being released.
Alek Sigley -- one of a handful of Westerners living and studying in North Korea -- disappeared without a trace around June 23, prompting a week of deep concern and frantic speculation about his fate.
For days Sigley's family received no word about his whereabouts or wellbeing, stoking fears he may have been the latest in a long line of foreigners to become entangled in North Korea's police state.
Then, with little warning, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Thursday told politicians that Sigley had "been released from detention in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea" and that "he is safe and well".
Sigley's father Gary, a professor of Chinese and Asian studies, told media in Australia that the family was "extremely pleased he is safe and sound".
The father admitted he had missed a call from his son because he had been busy "shopping" but hoped to give him a "big hug and kiss" soon.
Alek Sigley's detention came just days before a G20 summit and a landmark meeting between President Donald Trump
 ...Perhaps no man has ever had as much fun being president of the US...
and North Korean leader Kim Pudge Jong-un
...the overweight, pouty-looking hereditary potentate of North Korea. Pudge appears to believe in his own divinity, but has yet to produce any loaves and fishes, so his subjects remain malnourished...
Trump was intimately involved in the case of University of Virginia student Otto Warmbier, who was imprisoned during a tour of the authoritarian state in 2016.
Doctors said Warmbier suffered severe brain damage while in detention, fell into a coma and died days after arriving back in the United States, aged 22.
Sigley was much more familiar with the country and spoke fluent Korean.
He ran tours to North Korea and a number of social media sites, which usually had a stream of apolitical content about everyday life in one of the world's most secretive nations.
His blog posts focused on everyday life in Pyongyang -- everything from the city's dining scene to North Korean app reviews.
"He is always trying to demystify North Korea, unlike the typical Western media. He tries to understand the people there," his 26-year-old Japanese wife Yuka Morinaga had said.
The pair married in a lavish ceremony in Pyongyang last year.
The case was complicated by Australia's lack of diplomatic representation in North Korea.
Morrison thanked Sweden for its diplomatic help in securing Sigley's release.
Earlier this week Swedish special envoy Kent Harstedt had travelled to Pyongyang, where he raised the issue with North Korean authorities.
"I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to Swedish authorities for their invaluable assistance in securing Alek's prompt release," Morrison said, hailing it as a triumph of "behind the scenes" diplomacy.
Sigley is now at the Australian embassy in Beijing and later on Thursday is expected to travel to Japan, where his wife still lives.
"He's safe on Aussie soil at our embassy in Beijing," Morrison said. 
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Posted by trailing wife 2019-07-05 00:00||
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