A US university student who disappeared in China 12 years ago is reported to be alive - having been abducted and taken to North Korea to work as Kim Jong-un's English tutor.

David Sneddon vanished in China in 2004 where he was presumed dead.

But Sneddon, who was 24 at the time, is now allegedly living in North Korea with a wife and two children, according to a report in Japanese media.

In addition to this, Sneddon is said to work as an English tutor, where his students have included the country's supreme leader Kim Jong-un.

At the time of his disappearance, the Chinese government said it believed Sneddon had died while exploring a canyon in the south of the country.

His body was never discovered, however.

According to an article in Yahoo Japan, there is now reason to believe Sneddon was abducted by North Korea and taken to the capital of Pyongyang.

Choi Sung-yong, president of the Abductees' Family Union in South Korea, says sources in North Korea believe Sneddon is now married to a North Korean woman with whom he has two children.

The sources also say he works as a teacher, and that he has tutored Kim Jong-un in English.

Sneddon, a former Mormon missionary, was fluent in Korean and studying Mandarin whilst in China.

The US state department will now actively begin searching for Sneddon, his parents have reported.

The news "doesn't suprise me at all," his mother Kathleen told Desert News Utah.

"We just knew in our heart that he was alive, so we had to keep fighting", she added.