culture

Kim Cho Sim, aged 93, is a famous singing teacher of the country. She is still active at a music school affiliated to Pyongyang Kim Won Gyun University of Music and Dance.

Born to a poor peasant’s family in Chongjin City of North Hamgyong Province on October 22 1932, she is said to have loved singing songs from childhood. But she could not sing Korean songs under the pressure of a Japanese primary school teacher during the Japanese imperialists' military occupation of Korea.

Her wish was fulfilled only after national liberation.

She sang songs of building a new Korea while giving full play to her talent at the middle school and students’ art festivals, drawing attention of all the citizens of Chongjin as a singer with a bright future.

When the US imperialists and their stooges started the war of aggression on this land in June 1950, she joined the army.

She was 18 years old at that time.

"The stage was precious, but more precious was the country. So I volunteered to join the Korean People's Army," Kim recalled.

A vocalist of the then Ministry of the Interior Song and Dance Ensemble, she jumped into the flames of the raging war. Her songs resounded in the heights where battles were fought and liberated towns and villages, offering great encouragement to the Korean people and soldiers and serving as bullets for annihilating the enemy.

She did not sing songs only.

She carried ammunition to the heights clouded with powder smoke and brought the wounded soldiers back to the rear, fearless of death. In the course of it, she was severely wounded in the head, arms and legs. In the three-year war she was awarded two Distinguished Military Service Medals.

After the war, too, she encouraged the people across the country who had turned out for postwar reconstruction by singing songs enthusiastically as the women’s chorus team leader of the then Central Broadcasting Art Troupe.

When the central TV broadcasting tower was built for the first time in the country, her songs resounded across the country, adding to the joy of the local people.

When she was unable to stand on the stage any longer due to the aftereffects of the injuries she had suffered during the war, the country saw that she continued to work as a teacher.

For over 60 years since then, she has worked as a music teacher, adding glory to her life.

When she was a music teacher at Pyongyang Inhung Middle School, the schoolgirls’ chorus team instructed by her received wide acclaim from the audience at the national schoolchildren's art festivals and joined the annual schoolchildren New Year performance to give pleasure to President Kim Il Sung.

Later, she worked as a teacher of the early vocal music course at the Pyongyang Students and Children’s Palace and the Mangyongdae Schoolchildren's Palace under the deep care of Chairman Kim Jong Il, training many talented singers on the basis of the unique Korean-style vocalism. 

Among her former students are many People’s and Merited Artistes and teachers who are well known to the Korean people.

"Years have gone by. But I can still pursue a successful teaching career full of energy because the policies and benefits of the country for war veterans serve as nutrients of my life," Kim said.

Many people ask her to spend the rest of her life in comfort. But she works harder to fulfil her duty as an educator to return the favours she received from the country which brought her up to become a Labour Hero, People’s Teacher and Merited Artist.

Seen on a wall of her house are photos she posed for with Chairman Kim Jong Il and the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un, certificates of state commendations and certificates of participation in national conferences.

Chairman Kim Jong Il praised her as a person of meritorious deeds who had trained talented singers and saw that high state commendations were awarded to her. General Secretary Kim Jong Un warmly shook hands with her participating in the Seventh National Conference of War Veterans and heartily wished her good health again and again.

"I don't care about my age. I only want to train my students well to the last moments of my life so that they can bring honour to the country," said the teacher in her 90s. "This is the greeting a war veteran offers to the benevolent country."