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North Korea Defends Camp for Forcibly Deported Ukrainian Children, Calls UK Sanctions “Demonization”
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North Korea has criticized new British sanctions targeting a North Korean children’s camp allegedly linked to the deportation and ideological reeducation of Ukrainian children taken from temporarily occupied territories.
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According to Euronews on May 17, North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) described the sanctions as “conspiratorial moves for demonizing Russia” and called them an “intolerable insult” to Pyongyang.
The reaction followed a sanctions package announced by the United Kingdom on May 11 against 85 Russian individuals and entities. British authorities stated that 29 of those sanctioned were involved in the forced deportation, militarization, and ideological indoctrination of Ukrainian children.
According to Euronews, the UK also imposed sanctions on the Songdowon International Children’s Camp in North Korea. London said the facility was suspected of supporting Russia’s efforts related to the “forced deportation and re-education of Ukrainian children.”
The British government further stated that the camp was involved in supporting policies that “undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine.”
In response, KCNA called the sanctions a “vile, unethical and politically motivated provocation aimed at tarnishing the external image” of North Korea and damaging relations between Pyongyang and Moscow, according to Euronews.
North Korean state media also claimed that the Songdowon camp had been established to promote North Korea’s political system among young people and described the facility as a “sacred foundation for the education and development of children.”
The latest UK sanctions package also targeted the so-called “Warrior Center,” a Russian military-patriotic youth training organization accused of providing military instruction and pro-Kremlin ideological programs to Ukrainian children taken from temporarily occupied territories.
Among those sanctioned was Yulia Velichko, identified by British authorities as the youth minister in the Russian-controlled part of the Luhansk region. According to the UK government, she was involved in programs linked to the deportation and political indoctrination of Ukrainian children, including initiatives tied to the distribution of Russian passports.
According to Ukraine’s Bring Kids Back initiative, more than 20,000 Ukrainian children have been deported to Russia since the start of the full-scale invasion. Ukrainian authorities say 2,161 children have so far been returned.
Earlier, schoolchildren in temporarily occupied Mariupol were formally inducted as “guardsmen” during a ceremony organized with the participation of Russia’s National Guard and occupation authorities. Students pledged allegiance to Russia, received identification documents, and took part in a religious “consecration” ceremony as part of broader efforts to militarize and indoctrinate children in occupied Ukrainian territories.
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