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David Sneddon: Student missing for 12 years was 'kidnapped to teach English to Kim Jong-un'

David Sneddon was presumed dead in 2004 but he is reportedly alive, and living with a wife and two children in North Korea

New York

Friday 02 September 2016 16:41 BST

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David Sneddon may have been abducted by North Korea

The family of a college student who disappeared during a 2004 trip to China see new signs for hope after a Japanese news agency reported that he was kidnapped by the North Korean government.

David Sneddon was presumed dead after he vanished in the Yunnan Province in western China when he was 24. A student at Brigham Young University, police said Mr Sneddon likely died while hiking in Tiger Leaping Gorge near the Jinsha River on 14 August 2004.

But they never recovered a body.

On Wednesday, Yahoo News Japan reported that Mr Sneddon had been spotted in North Korea, where he is believed to live. He reportedly works as an English teacher, and has a wife and two children.

North Korea's worst human rights abuses

Show all 11

1/11North Korea's worst human rights abuses

North Korea's worst human rights abuses

Starvation

A UN report said that policies leading to mass starvation in North Korea amounted to crimes against humanity. Deaths peaked during the 1990s North Korean famine.

Al Jazeera

North Korea's worst human rights abuses

Executions

Defence minister Hyon Yong Chol is believed to be the latest official executed after falling foul of Kim Jong-un. As well as gruesome public executions, thousands of people have been killed in state 'purges' and for alleged anti-state crimes

Getty

North Korea's worst human rights abuses

Torture

Torture is prevalent in prison camps, as well as in police and security service custody.

AP

North Korea's worst human rights abuses

Freedom of religion

American missionary Kenneth Bae was one of the many people detained after trying to practice their religion. The DPRK Constitution claims to protect freedom of religion but not if it as alleged of being used a a pretext for 'drawing in foreign forces or for harming the state and social order'. Christianity is frequently considered a political crime

North Korea's worst human rights abuses

Freedom of expression

All media is tightly-state controlled and expressing facts of opinions critical of the government or Juche ideology can lead to arrest and imprisonment. As well as being under extensive surveillance, people are encouraged to 'inform' on friends and neighbours

Getty

North Korea's worst human rights abuses

Freedom of thought

A UN report found that the 'DPRK operates an all-encompassing indoctrination machine which takes root from childhood to propagate an official personality cult and to manufacture absolute obedience to the Supreme Leader, effectively to the exclusion of any independent thought from the official ideology and state propaganda'

Reuters

North Korea's worst human rights abuses

Forced labour

Prisoners are subjected to forced labour in camps, including children as young as five. Some workers are also reportedly being sent abroad to fund the government's projects

AFP

North Korea's worst human rights abuses

Sexual discrimination

Although women are permitted to serve in the military, their role is restrained by the Juche ideology and the UN reports that 'discrimination against women remains pervasive in all aspects of society'

AP

North Korea's worst human rights abuses

Freedom of movement

Freedom of movement is severely restricted within North Korea and very few citizens are allowed to leave the country. Immigrants found in China can be forcible repatriated and punished on their return. The right for foreigners to enter is also severely restricted.

Reuters

North Korea's worst human rights abuses

Prison camps

Many of the worst abuses reported take place at prison camps, some specifically for political crimes. The camps officially do not exist but have been photographed using satellite. Inmates are 'forcibly disappeared' and usually imprisoned until death

REUTERS

North Korea's worst human rights abuses

Reproductive rights

Forced abortions have been reported for imprisoned women, often after being raped by guards. Mothers and babies frequently die in childbirth because of a lack of adequate care, often delivering babies unaided at home.

AP

The US Department of State announced Wednesday that they will begin searching for Mr Sneddon in North Korea.

Choi Sun-yong, who heads the Abductees’ Family Union, said a source revealed Mr Sneddon had in fact been kidnapped by North Korean operatives, and worked as an English tutor for Kim Jong-un – who was heir to the country’s dictatorship at the time.

Mr Sneddon’s parents, Roy and Kathleen, never believed the official story that their son had died falling into a river. Knowing North Korea's reputation for kidnapping foreigners, they believed the Kim regime sought out their son for his fluency in Korean – which he used during his time spent as a Mormon missionary in South Korea - and snatched him for their own purposes.

Over the past 12 years, the Sneddons never stopped campaigning for American officials to investigate their son’s disappearance.

“We just knew in our heart that he was alive, so we had to keep fighting,” Ms Sneddon told Deseret News Utah.

Utah representatives had previously urged Congress to investigate the circumstances of Mr Sneddon’s disappearance, and confirm whether or not he was kidnapped by North Korea.

“The evidence indicates that there are still a lot of unanswered questions about David’s disappearance,” Representative Chris Stewart, who serves on the US House Intelligence Committee said in a February statement.

“David’s family deserves answers to those questions, and until we find those answers, I will continue urging the State Department to pursue all possible explanations for David’s disappearance.”