Dec. 5 (UPI) -- At least two Ukrainian children abducted by Russian forces are being held in North Korea, a human rights expert told a U.S. Senate subcommittee, highlighting an expanding dimension of Moscow's systematic deportation campaign as its military ties with Pyongyang deepen.
Kateryna Rashevska, a legal expert at Ukraine's Regional Center for Human Rights, made the claim Wednesday at a hearing on Ukrainian child abductions convened by the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations.
Rashevska testified that 12-year-old Misha from occupied Donetsk and 16-year-old Liza from occupied Simferopol were sent to the Songdowon camp in North Korea, located some 5,500 miles from their homes, where they were exposed to militarized propaganda.
"Children there were taught to 'destroy Japanese militarists' and met Korean veterans who, in 1968, attacked the U.S. Navy ship Pueblo, killing and wounding nine American soldiers," Rashevska said.
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