Second Canadian Citizen Detained In China Met North Korea's Kim - Reports

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th December, 2018) The second Canadian national that the authorities had lost contact with after he was questioned in China had been identified as Michael Spavor, a businessman acquainted with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, media reported.

Late on Wednesday, Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said during a press conference that Ottawa was aware of a second Canadian questioned by Chinese authorities and was working to locate him. Freeland made her statement in the wake of the detention of Michael Kovrig, a former Canadian diplomat who is currently working for a think tank International Crisis Group, in China.

Spavor was the founder of a China-based Peaktu Cultural Exchange company that carries out cultural exchanges with North Korea, the CBC broadcaster reported.

The outlet added that Spavor's Facebook page contained pictures showing him next to Kim.

Canadian-Chinese relations have worsened after the arrest of Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Chinese high-tech giant Huawei, in Vancouver earlier in December at the request of the US authorites on suspicions of violating Washington's Iran sanctions. The move was slammed by Beijing which called on Ottawa to release the official.