Kidnapped Ukrainian children sent to North Korea, human rights lawyer tells U.S. Senate

Official testimony has emerged for the first time that two children kidnapped by Russian forces from occupied Ukrainian territories were forcibly transferred to North Korea.

Kateryna Rashevska, a lawyer affiliated with a human rights organization in Ukraine called the Regional Center for Human Rights, testified on December 3 during a U.S. Senate hearing held in Washington that at least two children who were kidnapped by Russian forces in the eastern occupied areas were sent to a camp in North Korea, according to a report by the Kyiv Independent on December 4.

“Twelve-year-old Misha from the occupied Donetsk region and 16-year-old Liza from occupied Simferopol were sent to Songdowon camp in North Korea, 9,000 kilometers [5,592 miles] from home,” Rashevska testified during the Senate hearing.

At the camp, the children reportedly received education such as to “destroy the Japanese militarists” and lived in a system that was effectively anti-Japanese and anti-American in nature, including meeting North Korean military officials who had participated in the 1968 seizure of the U.S. Navy vessel Pueblo.

“The Regional Center for Human Rights documented 165 reeducation camps where Ukrainian children are militarized and Russified,” said Rashevska. “These camps exist in occupied territories, Russia, Belarus and North Korea.”

At the same hearing, Nathaniel Raymond, executive director of the Humanitarian Research Lab at Yale School of Public Health, testified separately and estimated that the number of Ukrainian children currently detained or controlled by Russia is at least 35,000.

The officially confirmed number of children abducted by Russian forces stands at 19,546, according to Ukraine’s national “Children of War” database.

However, as many have been forcibly adopted into Russian families or transferred to militarization facilities, tracking them has become difficult, and the actual number is believed to be much higher.

In fact, some Ukrainian officials estimate that between 150,000 and 300,000 children are currently stranded in Russian territory, and a recent investigation by the Kyiv Independent suggested that about 1.6 million Ukrainian children are currently unable to leave Russian-controlled areas.

On December 1, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, speaking at a high-level meeting in Paris organized under the international initiative “Bring Kids Back,” said that only 1,859 children who Russia abducted have been brought back, appealing for continued international support.

Also on December 1, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution demanding that Russia immediately and unconditionally return all Ukrainian children who were illegally taken.

Previously, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants in 2023 for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova, holding them responsible for the forced deportation of children.

BY HAN JEE-HYE   [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]