Russia has reportedly sent some of the thousands of Ukrainian children it abducted from occupied territories to North Korea for “re-education,” according to Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman.
Dmytro Lubinets, the ombudsman, did not specify how many children were transferred to North Korea, and Russia has not publicly commented. But Lubinets cited testimony indicating that Russia operates 165 “camps” for re-educating Ukrainian children across occupied Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, and North Korea.
A representative from the Regional Centre for Human Rights told the U.S. Senate that some children were taken to the Songdowon summer camp on North Korea’s east coast.
There, the children were reportedly taught to “destroy Japanese militarists” and met veterans involved in capturing a U.S. spy ship in 1968.
Ukraine says Russia has abducted or forcibly displaced nearly 20,000 children since the 2022 full-scale invasion. Russia admits relocating some children but claims it acted for their protection and is working to reunite them with families, a claim Ukraine disputes. In 2023, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and his children’s rights commissioner over the alleged deportation of Ukrainian children.
Kateryna Rashevska tells a US Senate committee about the plight of abducted Ukrainian children