Russia to send students to North Korean camp under new program
Commissioned by Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, the new "pioneering" organization Movement of the First will start sending 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 Russian Federation's information war.
"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.
Absurd activities for children
The first group of Russian children will go to Songdowon at the end of July and preliminarily stay in North Korea until August 2.
The travel agency Vostok Intour, based in Vladivostok, announced its intention to send Russian students to the Sondowon 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 Songdowon 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. Children were forced to sing songs praising Korean leaders and clean their monuments as part of the latter activities. 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.
All-Russian movement of children and youth
The last time Russian children were at the camp was before the COVID-19 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." Association branches were opened in all schools across the country. The authorities also decided to admit 500,000 students into the organization. In 2023, approximately CAD 263 million was allocated from the budget for the new "pioneer," and in 2024, CAD 284 million is planned.
