US affirms asylum for Ukrainian boy

The Justice Department has reaffirmed its decision to grant asylum to a 14 -year-old boy who ran away from home rather than return to the Soviet Union with his parents, the youth's attorney reports.

Julian Kulas, an attorney for Walter Polovchak, said he was notified by the Justice Department that Walter had been granted permanent residency in the United States. It will make pending court cases aimed at returning the youth to his parents harder to win.

Walter, in July 1980, ran away from his North Side home with his sister, Natalie, then 17, when his parents told them they had decided to return to their native Ukraine. The Soviets have accused US authorities of holding the youth against his will.