Songdowon International Children's Camp, Wonsan
Songdowon International Children's Camp
Introduction
Location
Exterior
Interior
Activities
Visiting Tips
Introduction
Songowon International Children’s Camp opened in 1960 to help foster relationships worldwide by hosting children from overseas for summer camps.
Major renovations on Kim Jong Un's request were completed in 2014 where the maximum capacity was increased to 1200 children.
Children from all over the world can come to the camp and take part in the activities.
Different sources vary, but it costs approx. 300 USD per week.
Around 400 international children come to the Songdowon Children's Camp every year, mainly from China, Russia, Nigeria, Mongolia, Mexico, Syria, Tanzania, and Thailand.
Location
The Songdowon International Children's Camp is located in Kangwon Province, just outside of Wonsan City.
It covers a large area with various amenities - also including its own private beach area.
Exterior
The Songdowon Children's Camp falls over a vast area with many different outside areas and buildings.
You will drive up the entrance driveway to the camp and arrive at the main square in the middle of the camp.
To both sides of this square are the two main buildings.
To the right are the dormitories, and to the left is a building with various activities and cafeteria.
In the middle of the square is a statue of Kim Il Sung surrounded by children.
Outside, there is also a massive water park with slides, as well as a full-sized football pitch.
The whole grounds are very large, and the atmosphere is very green.
Trees line the sidewalks, and you should walk for a few minutes to get to each location.
During the walk, there are various signs with different maths and language puzzles on them, as well as the names of the different trees and plants.
Interior
Dormitories
The boys and girls dorms are separate.
There are around 6 beds per room. The boys' rooms are painted blue, pink is imaginitively chosen for the girls' rooms.
The bedrooms are located on the second floor.
Recreational Building
Located to the left of the square, this building is one of the largest and houses various games rooms, a cafeteria, an auditorium, computer room, and various other rooms.
The architecture is modern and colourful - very much the style of post 2012 DPRK.
Gym
There is a gym located next to the football pitch where children can go to train and have class.
Atrium
The atrium is located to the side of the aquarium.
Aquarium
One of the most impressive buildings located at the back of the Songdowon Children's Camp.
You should take your shoes off before entering the aquarium.
Inside, there is a variety of fish and sea life. There is a small pool as you first walk in, to the right, then when you walk around you will see larger fish tanks.
One of the most impressive bits is the large cylinder tank in the middle of the room leading downwards where you will find tanks filled with turtles and dolphins in a walk-in type aquarium.
Activities
- One of the main events of the camp is a cultural exchange between each nationality of students. Students will perform something that is culturally relevant from their country.
In exchange, international students will also learn how to perform North Korean dances and songs.
Other classes offered at Songdowon INternational Schoolchildren's Camp include;
- Cooking classes
- Boating classes
- Football
- Various educational classes
- Camping
- Video games
- Other sports
Visiting Tips
- A popular time for children to visit the Songdowon International Children's Camp is in summer. This does not mean that if you are visiting, there will definitely be students there. Sometimes, the students are out doing activities or in class learning. Or sometimes there are no students there. This doesn't mean that there are never any students there.
- There is a souvenir shop inside one of the buildings. There is nothing here that you can't buy elsewhere - so save your shopping for another time!
- Give yourself enough time here. There is a lot to see - you can easily spend more than a couple of hours looking at everything here.
- Spending some time outside you can get a good feel for camp life as children march past singing camp songs.
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