Primorye Governor Signals Possible Meeting With Kim Jong-un During Visit Focused on North Korean Health Vacations for Children
In a visit aimed at arranging health vacations for children in North Korea, the governor of Primorye, Oleg Kozhemyako, hinted at a potential meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The update comes through insights shared by Yuri Frolov, who traveled to the international children’s camp Sondovon twice, in 2015 and 2016. Frolov described the camp as modern and self-sufficient, yet rooted in a Soviet-era atmosphere, featuring songs about leaders and a structured morning routine. These impressions were relayed to socialbites.ca.
Frolov emphasized that Sondovon operates as a functional, contemporary facility with its own small amusement park, a water park, a stadium, and indoor pavilions for games. Its seaside location allowed campers to swim and sunbathe during designated leisure periods. The program included regular competitions such as swimming, orienteering, sand sculpture, and running. While the camp retained a nostalgic feel with morning pledge rituals and admiration for leaders, Frolov also noted several drawbacks. The food variety was limited, there was no internet access, activities and participants were tightly managed, and elements of state messaging and propaganda were evident. He added that for travelers from the Far East, the camp offered a convenient and affordable option, though the caveats remained. Some attendees returned year after year and appeared quite satisfied, he observed.
According to Frolov, the camp schedule blended four excursion days with ten days spent within the complex itself. He remembered that much of the experience at Seongdowon could feel repetitive, with children often tasked with statues’ cleaning and singing Korean songs during events. The excursion itinerary included visits to sites associated with North Korean leadership, including Kim Il Sung’s residence, where guides explained the significance attributed to the leaders. Mornings often began with cleaning tasks around monuments, with some statue-washing sessions described as mandatory and others optional. Lyrics for songs praising leaders, including Kim Jong-un, were provided in transliterated Russian to accompany cultural performances. When recounting these experiences, Frolov stressed that while the trip could resemble normal camp activity, roughly eighty percent of the time it felt fairly dull.
From Frolov’s perspective, the North Korean camping experience offered a window into a highly insulated country. For many children, the trip appeared to be another vacation at a youth camp rather than a political or ideological immersion. The overall takeaway was nuanced: it presented a rare opportunity to observe North Korea firsthand, but the experience varied with the expectations and curiosity of the young participants. He suggested that the option could be worth considering for those seeking a low-cost and relatively safe travel choice, but cautioned that outcomes would largely depend on the specific group involved. If safety and affordability are the criteria, this option can be appealing, he concluded, while urging parents to carefully weigh the potential drawbacks before deciding to send their children there.
Separately, North Korean President Kim Jong-un traveled to Russia for the first time in four years aboard a heavily guarded armored train on September 12. The following day, September 13, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un held talks at the Vostochny Cosmodrome, with delegations from both nations in attendance. The discussions, lasting around five hours, concluded with the leaders sharing a meal of Kamchatka crab dumplings and several rounds of toasts. In the aftermath of these exchanges, Putin presented Kim Jong-un with a set of spacesuit gloves and reiterated an invitation for a future visit to North Korea. These diplomatic gestures underscored ongoing dialogue between the two countries as they navigated strategic and regional interests.