Distinguished Russian scholar of North Korea says he was expelled from Latvia

[ad_1] SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Andrei Lankov, a outstanding Russian scholar on North Korea who teaches at a Seoul college, mentioned he was expelled from Latvia after being detained throughout a lecture within the nation’s capital.

In a textual content message Wednesday, Lankov mentioned Latvian police didn't present a cause for his detention late Tuesday in Riga, the place he was delivering a lecture on North Korea. He was later turned over to immigration authorities and brought to the border with Estonia, in line with the professor and his college.

“They principally expelled me from the nation, and it was all,” Lankov mentioned, with out elaborating additional.

Officers at South Korea’s Kookmin College, the place Lankov is a professor of historical past, mentioned they confirmed he had been launched and was headed to Estonia.

The Russian enterprise information outlet RBK reported earlier that Latvian authorities had positioned Lankov on a blacklist. Lankov advised the outlet he was nonetheless being held round 11 p.m. Moscow time, including that legal professionals had been engaged on his case and mates had been serving to with logistics.

A local of Leningrad, now known as St. Petersburg, Lankov lived for years in North Korea as an change pupil within the Eighties and has studied the nation all through his profession. Within the Nineties, he labored in South Korea and Australia, and since 2004 has taught in Seoul. He holds twin Russian and Australian citizenship.

Lankov has been recognized for his cool, realist view of North Korea , which he usually describes as a Machiavellian regime squeezing restricted assets and manipulating main powers to make sure its survival. He has additionally expressed essential views of Russia’s battle in Ukraine and Moscow’s use of North Korean troops to maintain its marketing campaign.

In April 2025, a courtroom in Moscow reportedly fined him 10,000 rubles ($130) for collaborating within the actions of a company that had been acknowledged as “undesirable” in Russia. Lankov advised RBK on the time that he realized concerning the case from journalists.

__ AP author Lynn Berry contributed from Washington.

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