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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Jo Mar 2, 2026
Yakbap is a national dish peculiar to the Korean people and a typical dish for First Full Moon Day (lunar January 15).
It is of high nutritive value and delicious with good harmony of honey, sesame oil, chestnuts, dates, etc.
Here is the recipe for yakbap.
First, glutinous rice is washed, cleaned and soaked in water for about three hours. Second, chestnuts are thoroughly peeled off and cut into two pieces. Third, dates are cleaned before the seeds are removed. The half is smashed and the other half is cut into two. Fourth, glutinous rice is steamed or boiled and it is placed on a big vessel. Then, sugar is mixed evenly with the rice to prevent the rice grains from sticking to one another. Fifth, chestnuts and dates are added after seasoning with soy. Then, sesame oil and honey are evenly mixed with it before putting it in a pot with a lid. Sixth, the yakbap pot is put into a cauldron with water and fixed before putting the lid and boiling it. Finally, it is boiled for eight to ten hours while regulating the fire for continuous boiling of water after boiling it over intense fire for half an hour. After 20-24 hours, yakbap looks more delicious. The finished yakbap is put in a container with a lid and served with pine nut seeds and cinnamon powder on it.
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Jo Mar 1, 2026
On the day of First Full Moon Day (lunar January 15), people used to enjoy rice wrapped in edible herbs such as laver, dried vegetable leaves, aster, etc. It was called pokssam. Tongguksesigi wrote that pokssam was the rice wrapped in vegetable leaves or laver, and eating the soup cooked of dried cucumber stalks, eggplant skin, radish leaves, cabbage leaves, etc. on the day helped bear the heat.
In the past, our country had a custom of drying wild edible herbs like aster, bracken and roots of broad bellflowers and vegetables such as eggplant, pumpkin, radish, cabbage, etc. in autumn for frying them or cooking soup of them and wrapping rice in them in winter. In some areas including Kaesong, perilla leaves were used for pokssam. Our people’s custom of drying and storing various kinds of edible herbs to make special dishes shows not only their meticulous and frugal way of life but also the development of their diverse dietary life.
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