In a significant development involving international academia and diplomacy, Professor Andrei Lankov—a distinguished Russian scholar specializing in North Korean studies—was apprehended by Latvian authorities while delivering a lecture in the country. The incident, initially reported by Russian media outlets RBK and Tass, occurred during his presentation on North Korea, though specific grounds for the detention remain undisclosed.
Lankov, who holds dual Russian and Australian citizenship and serves as a history professor at Seoul’s Kookmin University, confirmed to RBK that he was detained by Latvian police, blacklisted, and subsequently transferred to immigration services. As of 11 p.m. Moscow time, he remained in custody with legal representatives and associates addressing his case.
South Korea’s Kookmin University administration stated they are actively evaluating the circumstances surrounding his detention. Attempts to contact Lankov directly were unsuccessful at the time of reporting.
With deep expertise in North Korean affairs, Lankov spent his formative academic years as an exchange student in North Korea during the 1980s and has maintained a decades-long career analyzing the regime. He has taught in Seoul since 2004 after previous academic engagements in South Korea and Australia.
Lankov is recognized for his realist perspective on North Korea, characterizing it as a Machiavellian state skillfully leveraging limited resources and manipulating global powers to ensure its survival. Notably, he has also voiced criticism against Russia’s military operations in Ukraine and Moscow’s recruitment of North Korean personnel to support its campaign.
This incident follows a previous legal challenge in Russia, where in April 2025, a Moscow court fined Lankov 10,000 rubles (approximately $130) for participating in activities of an organization deemed “undesirable” by Russian authorities. Lankov had learned about those charges through media inquiries at the time.