KYIV– Russia is sending Ukrainian children from occupied areas of the easternmost region of Donetsk and Crimean Peninsula to the Sondovon summer camp in North Korea, where children are exposed to political propaganda and activities with violent themes.
Among the participants was 12-year-old Mykhailo from occupied Makiivka in the Donetsk region, according to journalists from Kyiv-based Suspilne news outlet.
At the camp, children are forced each morning to clean monuments of North Korean leaders, listen to speeches about “destroying American imperialism,” and play computer games with politicized storylines, such as “blowing up the White House.”
“Now that Russia and the DPRK have become allies, the days of American imperialism are numbered. […] Together we will bring closer the day when American imperialism is destroyed,” a history teacher from Khabarovsk said in a video.
Mykhailo told the propaganda outlet ZOV DNR that the camp also included cultural and sports activities.
“I really liked it. People there have such a strong cult of personality: they deeply honor Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il, and Kim Jong Un. Everyone goes along, no one complains. Everyone has what they need, and everyone is fine,” he said.
Human rights activist Kateryna Rashevska said that .“Russia presents these trips for children from occupied Ukrainian territories as ‘cultural exchanges,’ but in reality they are tools of political propaganda. This isn’t about personal development — it’s about instilling loyalty to the aggressor state and its allies.”
Rashevska said that such trips could expand in scale by exposing children to a distorted worldview and normalizing aggression against Ukraine.
Cover: Suspilne
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