Ukraine denounces the sending to North Korea of “kidnapped” children by Russia

Kyiv.- Ukraine’s ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, accused Russia on Thursday of sending “kidnapped” Ukrainian children to camps in North Korea to be “Russified and militarized,” within the framework of its war against Kyiv and the growing military rapprochement between Moscow and Pyongyang.

«The Regional Center for Human Rights reported that 165 camps have been identified where Ukrainian children are being Russified and militarized. They are located in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, and even North Korea!», wrote the official on the social network X. Lubinets’ words come after Kateryna Rashevska, a legal expert from the Regional Center for Human Rights (a Ukrainian NGO), said on Wednesday during a session in the United States Senate that at least two Ukrainian minors deported by Russia have ended up in the “Songdowon camp in North Korea.” According to the South Korean news agency Yonhap, it could be the Songdowon International Children’s Camp, a popular summer camp for children located in the coastal city of Wonsan.

UN Resolution Against Russia

The minors, identified as Misha, 12, and Liza, 16, “learned to destroy ‘the Japanese militarists’ and met Korean veterans who, in 1968, attacked the Pueblo ship of the US Navy,” according to the report presented by Rashevska to the US senators. Ukraine reports that thousands of minors have been deported from occupied territories since the beginning of the Russian invasion. According to data handled by Kyiv, the transfer of more than 19,000 children by force was identified. The General Assembly of the UN adopted this Wednesday a resolution that demands Russia return Ukrainian children forcibly transferred or deported to its territory, as well as cease these practices and the “change of status” of minors. The resolution was presented at an emergency meeting by Ukraine’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Mariana Betsa, who denounced that Russia sees Ukrainian children as “war trophies.” The request was approved with 91 votes in favor, 12 against, and 57 abstentions. Despite not being binding, the political declaration showed broad international support for the measure, surpassing the two-thirds majority of the members present and voting.