The Songdowon International Children's Camp () is a

summer camp A summer camp, also known as a sleepaway camp or residential camp, is a supervised overnight program for children conducted during the summer vacation from school in many countries. Children and adolescents who attend summer residential camps ...

located in the Songdowon area () of

Wonsan Wonsan (), previously known as Wonsanjin (), is a port city and naval base located in Kangwon Province (North Korea), Kangwon Province, North Korea, along the eastern side of the Korean Peninsula, on the Sea of Japan and the provincial capital. ...

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

History

The area where the camp is located was considered a scenic spot already during the Japanese rule of Korea. On May 28, 1923, the Wonsan Beach Co., Ltd. was established by the Japanese, and auxiliary facilities such as a golf course and a hotel were later built. At that time, the establishment of the company was sponsored by the

South Manchuria Railway The South Manchuria Railway (; ), officially , Mantetsu () or Mantie () for short, was a large of the Empire of Japan whose primary function was the operation of railways on the Dalian– Fengtian (Mukden)–Changchun (called Xinjing from ...

. The camp itself established in 1960 under the name Songdowon Central Boys Camp, and was reorganized under its current name in 1985, with two reconstructions in 1993 and 2014. On September 23, 2014, the Songdowon Line and Songdowon Station, a railway connecting the campsite, were newly established, and trains are operating between Pyongyang-Songdowon, Chongjin Youth-Songdowon, and Haeju Youth-Songdowon.

Overview

The camp hosts around 400 international children annually. It underwent major renovations in 2014, increasing its maximum capacity to 1200 children. It offers various activities, including a water park, a football pitch, and a large private beach area. The camp's exterior features dormitories, recreational buildings, a gym, an aquarium where campers can learn about flora and fauna, a history of birds, and a display room for taxidermy animals. It also has a well-equipped cooking practice room so that children can learn to cook various foods on their own. The camp's main events include cultural exchanges between countries, where students perform culturally relevant songs and dances. Other classes offered at the camp include cooking, boating, football, various educational classes, camping, video games, and other sports. The cost for international children is approximately US$300 per week. During the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

it used to host children from

Communist bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc (Combloc), the Socialist Bloc, the Workers Bloc, and the Soviet Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were a ...

countries.

References

External links

{{commons category-inline Young Pioneer camps Wonsan Summer camps Education in North Korea