An Australian man who was detained in North Korea in June has been released, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Thursday.

Morrison said in Parliament that 29-year-old Alek Sigley, a Korean literature student at Kim Il Sung University in Pyongyang, left North Korea and arrived safely at his destination.

(Prime Minister Scott Morrison during question time in the House of Representatives at Parliament House on July 04, 2019 in Canberra, Australia. The Prime Minister announced the release of missing Australian student Alek Sigley from detention in North Korea during question time.)[Getty/Kyodo]

"Alek is safe and well," Morrison said. "We were advised that the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) have released him from detention and he has safely left the country and I can confirm that he has arrived safely."

The Australian Broadcasting Corp. aired footage of Sigley transiting on Thursday through an airport in Beijing where he told a crowd of reporters he was "very good." But when asked what happened in Pyongyang, he remained silent.

He was accompanied from Pyongyang to Beijing by Kent Harstedt, Sweden's special envoy to North Korea.

Sigley's father, Gary, told the ABC in the Western Australian capital city of Perth that the family is "extremely pleased that Alek is safe and sound."

At Beijing he boarded a flight to Tokyo's Haneda airport that arrived there in the evening. According to Australian media, his wife is Japanese.

Sigley was reported missing by friends last week after a period of unusual online silence.

(Sigley is pictured upon his arrival at Beijing's international airport on July 4, 2019, after being released from detention in North Korea.) 

At the time of his disappearance, he was believed to be the only Australian citizen living in North Korea.

Australia has diplomatic relations with North Korea but does not maintain an embassy in Pyongyang.

Harstedt, who arrived in North Korea on Monday, met with Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho on Tuesday and with Ri Su Yong, vice chairman of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, on Wednesday. In those meetings he is believed to have made efforts for Sigley's release.

"I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to the Swedish authorities for their invaluable assistance in securing Alek's prompt release," Morrison said. "I'm sure we all could not be more pleased."

Sigley has had a long association with North Korea, founding a tour company there in 2013.

His social media profiles show he married his Tokyo-based wife in Pyongyang last September.