Jo Jun 7, 2026
Originally, the word sinsollo was the name of a vessel with a unique structure used to boil foods. Many years later, the name of the vessel came to indicate the food boiled in it.
Sinsollo is well-known to the world as a representative dish of the Korean cuisine, which has the best taste as if dainties of all lands and seas are put into one vessel and is also appealing to the eyes. Its broth is mainly made of chicken and fish and meat are used with gingko nuts, pine nuts, chestnuts, jujubes and walnuts.
Dozens of kinds of ingredients are used to make the dish.
Sinsollo is served with individual bowls as it is shared by several people.
...
Jo Jun 3, 2026
The DPRK has a long history of making and eating jang (soybean paste and sauce).
The names of jang are derived from its making methods and features. In Korean, toenjang (soybean paste) means thick paste and kanjang (soybean sauce) means seasoning sauce.
According to historical data, jang has been called by different names. It was originally called si and later si and jang, and at last its name was fixed as jang. The word meju was used by Korean ancestors to call jang but later became to indicate the basic material of jang. In its nascent period, jang was today’s fermented soybean that was made by wrapping boiled soybean with rice straw, fermenting it on a heated floor and mixing it with salt. Later, they dried and powdered fermented soybean and soused it in salty water before eating. In the long course of their life, Koreans discovered that materials contained in jang have health-promoting effects and medicinal efficacies in the treatment and prevention of cerebral thrombosis.
Nowadays, wheat paste is widely applied in the people’s dietary life to enrich it.
...
Jo May 6, 2026
Among the traditional dishes that the Korean people have enjoyed from olden times are pickles, which reflect their taste and likings.
The Korean ancestors had long known that salt can prevent food spoilage and used it in their dietary life to pickle such foods as vegetables, fish and meat so as to store them for a long time.
Such practice of pickling has a very long history. According to historical records, Koreans produced salt from ancient times and ate salted fish a lot.
Kimchi can also be said to have started from pickling at first.
There were parsley kimchi, chives kimchi, radish kimchi, leaf mustard kimchi, etc.
These kinds of kimchi are salted foods created by Koreans in the course of making wide use of pickles in their dietary life for a long time.
Pickling was further developed in the period of the feudal Joson dynasty.
Pickles in those days were divided into salt pickles directly preserved in salt, pickles preserved in bean paste or soy sauce, vinegared pickles and bran pickles using rice bran according to pickling agents. They were also divided into vegetable pickles, meat pickles, fish pickles and herb pickles according to ingredients.
Pickles are very good preserved foods that make it possible to store seasonal foods for a long time under the climatic conditions of the DPRK with distinctive seasons.
...
Jo May 4, 2026
Horse riding is a sports event to decide who rides faster on horseback and who performs more spectacular stunts on horseback.
Our country has a very long history of using horses. The Koreans have bred many horses of native kinds suitable for breeding in the mountainous and rugged terrain of the country since long time ago.
The excellent riding skills of the ancestors were inherited and developed at a high level, with such contents as handling weapons and hurdling on horseback being added to them. The best horse riders in the history of the country were the Koguryo people.
The technical contents of horse riding include preparation for horse riding, methods of mounting and dismounting a horse, standard sitting position, learning how to ride at a walking pace, quick pace and gallop and others.
Horsemanship is particularly conspicuous in horse riding.
It is literally performing stunts on horseback, including those of standing on a running horse, turning over from one side to the other by holding the saddle and dragging feet on the ground by clinging to the horse.
As the country has full conditions for horse riding good for health, the enthusiasm for riding is steadily growing stronger among working people, youth and children.
...
Jo Apr 5, 2026
Peasant dance is a folk dance that peasants in our country have danced to merry farm music from long ago. It is an optimistic and delightful popular dance of strong national coloring.
It is distinguished by its vigorous, spirited and colorful costume.
Dancers wore red jackets with yellow, white and black cuffs on the sleeves, and waistbands up to the chest tied at the back and hung down silk streamers in various colors on the back (three pieces each) in a good assortment.
At the time of dancing, especially dashing or rotating, the streamers blow and spread out in the wind to form beautiful shapes.
Peasant dance has distinguishing features in its movements and skills. Since it was a dance and a game of men, the dance movements were bold and turning round decorative tassels was focused on skills.
Turning round decorative tassels (pheasant feather or long thin strips of white paper tied to the top of soldier’s felt hat) like a windmill is peculiar to the peasant dance.
Turning round decorative tassels has tens of movements regarded as major dance movements, which are called sangmojit.
The decorative tassels as long as over 6 meters turning round on the dance field to form various shapes highlights the stunning spectacle of this folk art.
Under the wise guidance of the Workers’ Party of Korea, peasant dance is still being inherited for further development to meet the modern tastes.
...
Jo Apr 1, 2026
Swinging, one of the folk games enjoyed by the Korean women from olden times, has been conducted on folk holidays in spring and autumn.
Swinging had different names in different areas: kuli, kulgi, hulgi, kunggu, kundi and chuchon. In those days, swing ropes were fixed to the branches of shade trees and there was a footboard between the ropes for easy standing. Safety wristbands made of soft cloth were tied to the ropes so that people on the swing could propel themselves vigorously without anxiety in order to reach the bell.
Swinging was classified into single swinging (one person on the swing) and pair swinging (two people face to face on the swing). Single swinging was often preferred for a match.
Win and defeat was decided in several ways. At first, as the ropes were fixed to the thick boughs, kicking or catching in one’s mouth the twigs or sprigs set as a target in the front, or measuring the maximum height of the bell attached to the holder by elevating it were common. After that, a measuring tape with scales attached to the bottom of the footboard was used to decide winners by reading the marks at the swing holder.
...