Former ANU student Alek Sigley has been freed by the North Korean regime. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he was "released and safe" in China.
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The detainee emerged in Beijing airport from a flight from the North Korean capital. He said, with a hint of a smile to the scrum of journalists, "I'm OK. I'm OK. I'm very good."
His father, Gary, said he was "extremely pleased that he's safe and sound".
Alek Sigley married a Japanese woman in Pyongyang. His father said his son would be seeing his wife soon.
The father thanked the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the prime minister for their behind-the-scenes diplomacy via a Swedish envoy.
Mr Morrison thanked Swedish officials for their help in securing the Australian student's release.
"He has safely left the country and I can confirm that he has arrived safely," the Prime Minister said during Question Time.
Australia does not have an embassy in Pyongyang but Sweden and Britain do. It's believed that Sweden sent the special envoy to Pyongyang after Mr Sigley who is in his late 20s went missing a week ago.
In a joint statement, Mr Morrison and Foreign Minister Marise Payne said Swedish authorities met senior North Korean officials on Wednesday.
"On behalf of the Australian Government, I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to Swedish authorities for their invaluable assistance in securing Alek's prompt release," they said.
"This outcome demonstrates the value of the discreet, behind the scenes work of officials in resolving complex and sensitive consular cases, in close partnership with other governments.
"We couldn't be more pleased that we not only know where Alek is, but that he is safe."
It is not known why Mr Sigley was arrested. He was one of the rare - perhaps only - foreign students in Kim Il-sung university. There was no indication that he had been distributing Bibles or attempting to discuss Christianity, a certain way of getting into trouble with the regime in Pyongyang.
But he had been blogging about daily life in North Korea.
There is tension between the foreign ministry in Pyongyang and the security services. According to high level defectors, the former favours a more relaxed attitude towards the outside world but the latter is very suspicious about any kind of openness.
On this reading, he would have displeased security officials intensely when his work also appeared in a British newspaper and in a South Korean publication. The hard line North Korean security services may have taken the view that he was acting like an uncontrolled Western journalist.
Either way, there is no doubt that he is a very lucky man.
Several foreigners have previously been detained in North Korea for what Pyongyang terms "hostile criminal acts against the state".
The previous Western captive was US citizen Otto Warmbier who was sentenced to 15 years in prison for stealing a propaganda poster from his tourist hotel.
He was returned to the US in a vegetative state and died shortly after. What caused the deep coma is not known. It seems he may have been injured in prison, perhaps through self-harm in despair at the length of his sentence.
Western prisoners are rarely harmed because they can be used as bargaining chips later, but they are held in severe conditions.
Steve Evans
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
