Russian children to be sent to North Korean camp amid propaganda concerns

Commissioned by Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, the new "pioneering" organization Movement of the First will send Russian students to the children's camp in Sondowon, North Korea. Grigoriy Gurov, chairman of the organization's board, confirmed this information.

Many pieces of information provided by Russian media or government representatives are elements of propaganda. Such reports are part of the information war conducted by the Russian Federation.

"Russian children will go to the Songdowon camp in North Korea, while children from North Korea will go to Russia's Artek, Orlyonok, Smena and Ocean camps," as quoted by NEXTA.

The first group of Russian children will go to Songdowon at the end of July and stay in North Korea until August 2.

The travel agency Vostok Intour, based in Vladivostok, announced its intention to send Russian students to the Songdowon children's camp for the holidays. The company's director, Inna Mukhina, said that "more than a dozen children, accompanied by two adults," would participate in the trip.

The Sondowon camp is located near the port city of Wonsan on North Korea's eastern coast. There is an amusement park, water rides, a beach, a game room, and air hockey tables.

One of the Russians who visited Songdowon as a teenager in 2015-2016 said that the camp experience included strict movement restrictions and daily propaganda events. As part of the latter, children were forced to sing songs in praise of Korean leaders and clean their monuments. School-aged children were also shown a cartoon in which the characters bombed the White House in the USA.

According to the Russian whose account was reported by "The Moscow Times," they were fed the same food – "tiny pieces of chicken, almost no other meat, sometimes squid with rice and a roll." At the same time, the North Koreans freely sold the students rice, vodka, and cigarettes.

The last time Russian children were at the camp was before the coronavirus pandemic. After the start of the war in Ukraine, the Governor of Primorsky Krai, Oleg Kozhemyako, repeatedly proposed resuming such trips. However, the initiative did not find much support among the country's citizens.

In 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law creating the all-Russian movement of children and youth, later known as the "Movement of the First." Branches of the association were opened in all schools across the country. The authorities also decided to admit 500,000 students into the organization. In 2023, approximately 19 billion rubles were allocated from the budget for the new "pioneer," and 2024 – already 20.5 billion.