1. Michael Peter Todd Spavor was born on 1976 and is a Canadian consultant who has worked extensively in North Korea.
22 Facts About Michael Spavor
1. 2.
Michael Spavor is the director and founding member of Paektu Cultural Exchange, an NGO that facilitates sports, cultural, tourism and business exchanges involving North Korea.
3.
On September 24,2021, Michael Spavor was released after the dropping of Meng Wanzhou's extradition request as part of her deferred prosecution agreement with the US Department of Justice.
4.
In 2024, Michael Spavor received 7 million dollars from the Canadian government in a settlement over his detention in China.
5.
Michael Spavor has a degree from the University of Calgary in international relations, focusing on the Korean Peninsula and East Asian Studies, and has studied International Trade and Political Science at Kangwon National University in South Korea.
6.
Michael Spavor is fluent in Korean, including the North Korean dialect, and French.
7.
Michael Spavor is friends with Kenji Fujimoto, Kim Jong-il's Japanese former sushi chef, whom he first met in Japan in early 2016 and again in April 2016.
8.
In South Korea, Michael Spavor attended Kangwon National University and worked for the Korea Tourism Organization and Seoul Tourism Organization.
9.
Michael Spavor was a council member of the Royal Asiatic Society Korea Branch from 2010 to 2013, giving lectures and leading cultural excursions.
10.
Michael Spavor gained attention for restoring and living in a hanok in Bugahyeon-dong in western Seoul, and appeared in a music video for the K-pop group SES.
11.
From 2010 to 2013, Michael Spavor worked for the Pyongyang Project, a Canadian non-profit that organized educational exchanges in North Koreans and provided scholarships for North Korean students overseas, and in 2015 he founded Paektu Cultural Exchange.
12.
Michael Spavor has strong personal ties with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
13.
In September 2013, Michael Spavor facilitated the second visit of Dennis Rodman to North Korea and became one of the few Westerners to have met Kim while in the city of Wonsan.
14.
In November 2023, it was reported that Michael Spavor decided to sue the federal government for entangling him in espionage activities without his knowledge, and he is seeking a multimillion dollar settlement.
15.
Michael Spavor said that it was Kovrig's intelligence work that resulted in the arrest and detention of both Canadians.
16.
In March 2016, Michael Spavor organized the Pyongyang International Friendship Ice Hockey Exhibition, bringing around 20 foreign hockey players to North Korea, including two Canadian residents of South Korea, for a series of games and other workshop events.
17.
In 2017, during a qualifying match between the North and South Korean women's ice hockey teams for the 2018 Winter Olympics, Michael Spavor was assaulted by South Korean security officials as he tried to display the North Korean flag.
18.
Outside of sports exchanges, Michael Spavor played a role in the restoration of the Ryongwang Pavilion in Pyongyang, spending four years on the project alongside the Prince Claus Fund and North Korea's National Administration for the Protection of Cultural Heritage.
19.
Michael Spavor is often consulted by analysts and journalists for insights into North Korea.
20.
Michael Spavor has been reluctant to comment on politics and human rights in North Korea.
21.
In mid-December 2018, a GoFundMe campaign was started to raise funds for Michael Spavor to help with any legal and travel costs following his release, but three weeks later on January 7,2019, the crowdfunding platform terminated the campaign.
22.
On March 19,2021, a two-hour closed court hearing for Michael Spavor ended with no immediate verdict and Dandong Intermediate people's court stating that it would set a date to release a decision later.