culture

The Phyongchun Shooting Gallery in Pothonggang District, Pyongyang, is visited by many people.

The total floor space of the gallery is over 2 000 square metres and over ten years have passed since it was inaugurated.

The indoor shooting ground of the gallery has a 20m pistol range, a 50m rifle range, a 10m air rifle range and an archery range.

According to the attendants there, young men who are usually full of vigour and adventurous like pistol shooting and archery but women who are calm and attach importance to anything practicable or middle-aged men like rifle and air rifle shooting.

They say young men prefer pistol shooting to rifle shooting because of the unusual charm of pistol firing. Sin U Hyok, a young man living in Pulgungori-dong No. 2 of the district, said that after shooting with a pistol in rapid succession, he is thrilled to see the smashed targets through the rising smoke.

The archery range is also crowded with young people.

Ri Il Hyok, who lives in Ryomyong-dong, Taesong District, said that he did archery for the first time and it did not turn out just as he had wished, adding that the arrow flew after the bow was pulled and released, but it was not easy to hit the target. “Now that I have tried and shot arrows, I think our ancestors attached much importance to military affairs. I heard that they hit targets by shooting arrows while riding horse. They must have had quite keen senses as they had to hit targets with arrows while riding horse without an aiming device like today. I think it was the fruit of their tireless efforts," he added.

Unlike boisterous young men, the middle-aged calmly shoot rifles to hit targets accurately just like a sniper.

Air rifle firing is much enjoyed by women.

When firing is over at the shooting gallery, score mark sheets pasted to the targets are given to relevant customers as tokens.

Meanwhile, the customers can conduct various sports activities including table tennis and billiards and have photos taken and have a meal at the shooting gallery.

“People’s demand for leisure activities is increasing day by day. We are going to improve our service and give our customers new and greater pleasure,” said Kim Yong Jin, a staffer of the gallery.