The Facebook page of an Australian student in North Korea briefly reappeared on Saturday after his family shut it down.
Alek Sigley hasn't been heard or seen since Tuesday morning and is believed to be detained in North Korea.
His family had taken down his personal social media accounts to stop people from speculating what had happened to him.
The account appeared briefly on Saturday, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
Alek Sigley hasn't been heard or seen since Tuesday morning and is believed to be detained in North Korea. His family had taken down his personal social media accounts to stop people from speculating what had happened to him
But on Saturday afternoon and on Sunday the page had disappeared again.
His Twitter page and his website have remained online. Mr Sigley's last social media posts were on June 24.
On Friday, Australian National University North Korea expert Leonard Petrov said he believed Mr Sigley was silenced ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump's visit to the demilitarized zone, an expert said on Friday.
The worrying new theory comes as Prime Minister Scott Morrison spoke of his concern for Mr Sigley's welfare from the G20 summit of central bankers and world leaders in Japan.
'It is troubling to me and I'm sure his family as well,' Mr Morrison said from Osaka on Friday.
Alek Sigley (right) at his wedding with Yuka Morinaga, 26, in May, 2018. Ms Morinaga received her last message from Mr Sigley on Monday evening. Ms Morinaga normally speaks to her husband every day over WhatsApp from Tokyo where she is based
'The expression of support and assistance that have come from other nations I've met with while I've been here is very welcome,' he said.
'We'll continue to focus very sharply on that, and seek to clarify what exactly has occurred and then take steps from there.'
Dr Petrov said the secretive communist state might have viewed Mr Sigley's regular blogging on life in North Korea as a security risk and deliberately cut him off from means of communication.
North Korea expert Leonard Petrov said North Korea might have viewed Mr Sigley's regular blogging on life in North Korea as a security risk and deliberately cut him off from means of communication.
'I think that North Koreans potentially might have decided to shut down his blog … because the information was coming out of North Korea, which is unprecedented,' Dr Petrov told the ABC.
Mr Sigley, who is thought to be the only Australian living in North Korea, moved there in 2018 to study for a master's degree in Korean literature at Kim Il-sung University in Pyongyang.
He also runs a tour business for foreign visitors and blogs frequently. He has a twitter account with 4,000 followers.
On his blog and social media accounts, Mr Sigley has shared non-controversial, non-political information about daily life in the hermit kingdom, that is fascinating to outsiders because it is so closed.
Dr Petrov, a friend of Mr Sigley, said he did not think Mr Sigley was in immediate danger, because he was a foreign national who had been permitted to study there.
But he remained a potential risk as he was not controlled and censored by the North Korean dictatorship, he said.
Pictured: Alek Sigley's student ID for the Kim Il Sung University where he is studying Korean Literature
Dr Petrov said with U.S. President Donald Trump scheduled to visit the demilitarized zone on Sunday that tensions had been heightened in both South and North Korea leading to intensified security measures.
Trump is set to arrive in South Korea for a two-day visit on Saturday and will meet South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Sunday, following a summit of G20 leaders in Japan.
'Normally North Korea is a closed book,' Dr Petrov said.
'As a long-term foreign resident on a student visa, I have nearly unprecedented access to Pyongyang,' he wrote in an editorial in The Guardian
'Information is protected, journalists are not permitted or very carefully scrutinised.
'So an international student studying at the university for more than a year and constantly bringing information about the reclusive country could have been seen as a potential distraction factor on the eve of a potential third summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.'
Mr Sigley's last social media post on June 24 was about the Ryugyong Hotel, which remained famously unfinished after construction was halted in 1992 as North Korea entered an economic crisis.
He has been open about sharing his experiences living in North Korea, writing an editorial in The Guardian about his time there.
Mr Sigley's last social media post (pictured) on June 24 was about the Ryugyong Hotel, which remained famously unfinished after construction was halted in 1992 as North Korea entered an economic crisis
North Korea is a communist dictatorship founded in 1948
It has a population of 25million and the capital is Pyongyang
The current leader is Kim Jong-Il, 36
There are extremely strict laws on what citizens can do and say
Anyone speaking unfavorably about the government can be arrested
Foreigners are
