loading . . . Russia sends children from occupied Ukraine to North Korean camp for ‘re-education,’ investigation finds In 2024–2025, Russia transported at least two children from temporarily occupied parts of Ukraine to North Korea’s Songdowon International Children’s Camp under the guise of “cultural exchange” and “health retreats.” The claim was made on December 3, 2025, during a U.S. Senate hearing by human rights advocate Kateryna Rashevska, an expert at the Regional Center for Human Rights.
According to Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne , the trips were coordinated by Russian youth organizations, chiefly the Movement of the First.
The Songdowon International Children’s Camp sits near the port city of Wonsan on the Sea of Japan and is often described as North Korea’s analogue to the Soviet-era Artek camp.
Opened in 1960 and renovated in 2014, the camp drew children from Russia, China, Vietnam, Laos and several African nations before COVID-19. After effectively closing to foreigners during the pandemic, it reopened in 2024 amid warming ties between Moscow and Pyongyang. Russian tour groups returned first, followed by schoolchildren that summer.
Tourism sites promoting travel to North Korea say the Socialist Patriotic Youth League covers most costs for foreign children, while parents pay an additional $250–$350 for a two-week stay.
In 2024, the Movement of the First launched a contest called “The First go to Songdowon,” promising free trips to North Korea for winners. The initiative was presented as a joint project of the Movement of the First, the sanctioned Artek center, and the directorate of the World Youth Festival.
Russian media reported roughly 3,500 applicants aged 14–17 from across Russia, with 50 winners. Entrants had to record a video answering “Why should I win?” and submit an essay on topics including “What role do I see for Russia in the new multipolar world?” and “Why am I interested in visiting the DPRK?”
By summer 2025, Russian outlets reported a second student trip to Songdowon during a so-called Korea–Russia friendship session. Official Telegram channels framed the goal as “strengthening the brotherly ties between peoples.”
Suspilne identified a 12-year-old boy from Makiivka, in a temporarily occupied area of Ukraine, who attended the first summer session of 2025 (July 21–August 1). He was the only child from occupied Ukrainian territory in that cohort.
The investigation says the boy studies at a local lyceum and actively takes part in activities centered on Russian identity. In social media posts and interviews with Russian pro-government outlets, he said he joined joint cultural and sports events at the camp and visited sites linked to the Korean War and North Korean leaders.
In one interview, he said children saw five to six monuments dedicated to North Korea’s leaders every day during excursions, noting a “developed cult of personality” and claiming “people don’t complain about anything.”
The trip began in Vladivostok, with children flown to Pyongyang. There, a mandatory cultural program included visits to monuments tied to the official North Korean narrative of the Korean War and other ideological sites.
In published videos, a Russian chaperone—speaking against a backdrop of armed Russian soldiers-delivers remarks about the “union of Russia and the DPRK” and the need to confront “American imperialism.” The investigation identifies him as a Russian history teacher and a former activist in pro-Kremlin youth movements.
During “friendship evenings,” Russian students wrote thank-you letters to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Participants said each day began at 6:30 a.m. with cleaning around monuments to North Korean leaders as a sign of respect. Korean children were required to bow to the leaders’ portraits when entering the dining hall.
Connection to the outside world was limited or nonexistent: there was no internet and mobile phones were banned. Calls home were made from special rooms with telephones at about $1 per minute. Some participants also described computer games with politicized, violent content, including scenes of blowing up the White House.
Rashevska said Russia presents such trips as “children’s diplomacy,” but in practice they are tools for political propaganda and building loyalty to an aggressor state and its allies.
She argued the practices mirror Soviet-era methods of ideological indoctrination and are prohibited under international law. “This is not development or cultural exchange,” she said, but the normalization of war, violence and authoritarian ideologies.
Even after a child returns home, she warned, the effects of such ideological exposure can be deep and long-lasting, warranting international scrutiny and response. https://www.uawire.org/russia-sends-children-from-occupied-ukraine-to-north-korean-camp-for-re-education-investigation-finds
