Student declared dead in 2004 was ‘KIDNAPPED by Kim Jong-un to teach the tyrant English'

A UNIVERSITY student who went missing in China 12 years ago is believed to have been kidnapped by North

Korea to become Kim Jong-Un's personal English tutor.

US student David Sneddon was 24 when he went missing in 2004 after reportedly falling into a river while hiking in canyon Tiger Leaping Gorge - a tourist hotspot in Yunnan, China.

Although Chinese authorities reported at the time that Sneddon was dead, the head of South Korea’s Abductees’ Family Union Choi Sung-yong has now claimed Sneddon is alive and living in Pyongyan with a wife and two children.

The Union states that the Brigham Young University scholar, originally from Utah, was kidnapped to become the private English tutor of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un.

The revelation has given Sneddon's family fresh hope, as his parents refused to believe that their son was was dead because his body was never found.

David Sneddon's mother Kathleen, who has been running a Facebook page and a website called Helpfinddavid.com ever since her son went missing, said: “We just knew in our heart that he was alive, so we had to keep fighting."

The US Department of State has announced that it will conduct a search for Sneddon – who would now be in his 30s.

HELPFINDDAVID.COM

Missing US student David Sneddon is believed to be alive with a wife and two kids

Sneddon was originally reported missing on August 24 4004 after he failed to meet his brother at an airport in Seoul, South Korea.

North Korean authorities stated at the time that the traveller, who was on a Mormon mission in Asia, died following an accident at the Tiger Leaping Gorge.

HELPFINDDAVID.COM

David Sneddon's family travelled to China to parade the streets with placards

But Sneddon's parents, Roy and Kathleen, had doubts as their son went missing in the Yunnan Province, which is regularly used by people fleeing North Korea to South-East Asia.

They were also wary of North Korea's reputation for kidnapping foreign nationals, believing that their son would have been a prime candidate for abduction due to his fluency in Korean.

They have spent the past decade visiting kidnapping organisations in Japan, parading the streets of China with placards emblazoned with his face and displaying missing person posters in the streets.