An Australian graduate student expelled by North Korea after a short detention has rejected the North’s accusations of espionage.

On Twitter on Tuesday, Alek Sigley said the allegations that he is a spy are “pretty obviously false,” adding the only material he relayed to the outside world from North Korea was published openly on his personal blog and other websites.  

The North's state-run Korean Central News Agency accused Sigley last Saturday of “committing anti-North Korea incitement through internet” and said he passed on “data and photos on domestic situation” to anti-North Korean media organizations.

The claims came two days after Sigley was freed following a visit to Pyongyang by Sweden’s special envoy to North Korea Kent Rolf Magnus Harstedt.

Sigley had resided in Pyongyang since early last year while he pursued a master's degree in Korean literature at Kim ll-sung University. He also ran a North Korea tourism company called Tongil Tours.

[Photo : YONHAP News]