culture

Kim Jong Hak and his wife Jang Hye Gyong and their daughter Kim Jin A are riding enthusiasts living in Pothonggang District, Pyongyang. 

According to Kim Jong Hak, his family go riding at the Mirim Riding Club on rest days like Sunday and holidays.

Horse riding is very good for exercising the whole body and relieving mental fatigue, he said, adding that their connection with riding began for his daughter’s hobby.

One day in 2015, Kim and his wife went to the Central Zoo with their four-year-old daughter. But as she rode a horse to have a photo taken, she did not want to dismount from the horse.

Afterwards, they usually spent rest days at the Central Zoo with Jin A and two years later they found pleasure at the Mirim Riding Club.

At first, the couple enjoyed seeing the lively looks of their daughter absorbed in riding with satisfaction, but were gradually charmed by the sport and jumped into it.   

Their horsemanship improved year after year and they took part in the riding competitions in celebration of lunar New Year's Day and March 8 International Women’s Day in 2022, attracting public gaze.

“When I ride on horseback, I feel as if I am flying in the sky,” said Jang Hye Gyong, expressing her gratitude to the country for the benefit it provided to promote the sport among the ordinary working people. 

“The riding exercise injected a new lease of life, fresh vigour and love of family into me and gave my daughter the great honour all the Korean people want to have. On December 7 2019, the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un attended the ceremony to inaugurate the Yangdok Hot Spring Resort and posed for a photograph with schoolchildren enjoying horse-riding as he looked round the horse riding park and training ground. Among them was my daughter, Jin A,” said Kim Jong Hak. 

His family, called a “family of riding enthusiasts” by many people, cultivate their life more beautifully along with the riding exercise.