[interview] Untold Stories About Korean War Orphans in Europe

In the wake of the 1950-53 Korean War, many Korean children were mired in the twists and turns of Korea's turbulent modern history.

After their parents died on the battlefield, some orphans were discovered and protected by North Korean soldiers and initially sent to North Korea. From there, they were loaded onto a train heading to China, then transferred to another train for their destination in Eastern Europe.

The children, aged from 4 to 13, spent their childhoods at orphanages in Eastern European countries, including Poland and the Czech Republic, for years of education and training. They learned local languages and other coursework, as well as North Korean history.

All children sent to Eastern Europe during and after the Korean War were repatriated to North Korea by 1959 and participated in the post-war reconstruction of the country.

Little is known about their lives after they were sent back to North Korea.

There is no accurate information about the number of Korean War orphans in Europe. But some experts estimate it could be nearly 6,000.

In South Korea, there have been media reports about North Koreans in Eastern Europe since 1992. And all of the Korean War orphans in Eastern Europe were reported to have come from North Korea.

Some experts, however, challenge the long-held view, claiming that South Korean kids were among the orphans sent to Europe in the 1950s.

Lee Hae-sung, professor and director of Korean Studies at the University of Wroclaw in Poland, said he has evidence showing some of the orphans were from South Korea.

"One of the children I found during my research of the orphans was from Seoul," he told The Korea Times in an email interview. He said her name is Kim Yeon-sook or Kim Young-sook, noting he didn't know which one is correct, mainly because the Polish pronunciation of her name made it harder to conclude which is the right one. "I was told she was raised in an orphanage in Swider, some 100 kilometers north of Polish capital Warsaw. She was among the Korean War orphans sent to Poland. I obtained information about her in 2011 from Ms. Ewa Willaume who was a teacher there in 1958. The Polish teacher had vivid memories of the Korean girl and said she was cute and polite and was talented in music and choreography."

Swider is one of the three Polish venues that housed Korean War orphans. The first batch of Korean children arrived in Golotezyzna in 1951 during the war. The orphanages were located in the woods, hardly noticeable from outside the forest. Such secluded venues were chosen carefully to house Korean War orphans because the Polish government at the time reportedly didn't want to let the public know about the Korean children.

Back then, Poland was undergoing post-war reconstruction and...