Human Rights Officials Say Russia Sends Ukrainian Children To North Korea's 're-education' Camp

Illustration of child refugees from Ukraine arriving in Polish Przemysl. (Wikimedia Commons/Mirek Pruchnick)

JAKARTA - Russia has sent part of thousands of Ukrainian children it has kidnapped from its occupied territory to North Korea for "re-education," said Ukrainian human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets Thursday.

Dmytro Lubinets did not say how many children Russia had brought to North Korea, which had intensified cooperation with Moscow in recent years, while Moscow did not immediately provide public comment.

Citing testimony published by Kyiv-based human rights group Lubinets said there was a network of 165 "camps" where Russia is trying to educate the children in occupied Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia, as well as in North Korea, as reported by Al Arabiya from AFP (5/12).

Meanwhile, a representative from the Regional Center for Human Rights (RCHR) - quoted by Lubinets - reported in his testimony in the United States Senate on Wednesday, at least some of the children were sent to Songdowon's summer camp on North Korea's east coast.

There, they were taught to "destroy Japanese militarists" and met with veterans of Korea responsible for the seizure of US spy ships in 1968.

The Ukrainian government says Russia has kidnapped or forcibly moved nearly 20,000 children since launching a full-scale invasion by 2022.

Russia has admitted to having moved several children since launching its attack, but said it was done for their own safety and sought to reunite them with their families, a statement Ukraine denies.

Separately, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and the commissioner of children's rights in 2023 on suspicion of deportation and relocation of children to Russian-controlled territory.