On Wednesday, NK News, a U.S. media outlet specializing in North Korean affairs, reported that Andrei Lankov, a prominent North Korea expert and professor at Kookmin University, was arrested and deported while preparing for a lecture in Latvia.
Lankov, who holds dual citizenship in Russia and Australia, was taken into custody by police on Tuesday afternoon at a hotel in Riga, Latvia’s capital. He informed NK News, that approximately 30 minutes before the event was scheduled to begin, police and immigration officials arrived and stated that the Latvian Foreign Ministry had placed him on their list of individuals banned from entering the country.
Following his arrest, Lankov was escorted to the Latvian immigration office, briefly detained, and subsequently deported.
At the time of his detention, Lankov was preparing to deliver a lecture titled, North Korea: What the Elites Want and Fear, focusing on the country’s political system. He explained to NK News that they appear to view his writing style as excessively objective, which they seem to consider problematic. He sometimes speak positively about North Korea and sometimes negatively.
This suggests the possibility that Lankov was targeted for arrest due to not being perceived as sympathetic to North Korea. Latvia and North Korea established diplomatic relations in 1991. However, Latvian authorities reportedly did not disclose the reasons for his arrest and deportation.
Lankov, currently a professor at Kookmin University in South Korea, is widely recognized as a leading scholar on North Korean affairs. In 2013, he was invited to the White House by then-President Barack Obama to offer advice on North Korea policy. Born in 1963 in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg, Russia), Lankov earned his Ph.D. from Leningrad State University with a dissertation on Korea’s four-party system.
Previously, Lankov faced fines in Russia for involvement with organizations deemed undesirable. While Russian authorities did not specify the organization in question, it is believed to be related to his work with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a U.S.-based think tank.