North Korean leader Kim Jong Un gave musical instruments to a lower secondary school in Ryanggang province last year. Now the school has assigned those instruments to students for next year’s Lunar New Year performance. Students given the piri, a traditional Korean bamboo flute, have openly shown their discontent.
A Daily NK source in Ryanggang province said Tuesday that a lower secondary school in Kim Hyongjik county is planning a large instrumental ensemble for the show. The school assigned last year’s gift instruments to students. It also required them to practice for an hour each day in the classroom, even during summer vacation. “Students must play their instruments skillfully to bring joy to the Marshal (Kim Jong Un),” the school told students, the source said.
The school received more than 100 instruments last year. They included accordions, guitars, violins, cellos, double basses, gayageum, sohaegeum, okryugeum, xylophones, harmonicas and piri.
The school is now preparing a performance with at least 100 students. Each day, students pick up their assigned instrument at a set time. They practice, then return it to what the school calls its gift instrument room.
“Students are used to singing in a chorus. Playing in an instrumental ensemble is a completely different matter,” the source said. Memorizing lyrics is nothing like handling an instrument directly, the source explained. Because of that, the school has pushed students hard in practice.
Instrument assignments reveal a hidden hierarchy
The trouble lies in how the school assigned the instruments. Teachers did not consider whether a student already knew how to play a given instrument. They also ignored which instrument each student wanted. Instead, they relied on an unspoken hierarchy tied to family wealth. Subjective judgment from teachers played a role too.
Popular instruments in short supply, such as accordions and guitars, mostly went to students who had caught the eye of the principal or the music teacher. Homeroom teachers gave little attention to some other students. Those students ended up with the most common instrument on hand, the piri.
“Instruments like the accordion or guitar are popular,” the source said. “Learning to play one gives students a chance to join arts groups later, whether they enter society or the military after graduation.” Playing such an instrument earns recognition within whatever organization a person later joins, the source added. The piri, by contrast, is seen as having no such value. Students assigned to it feel left out as a result.
Some students given the piri have expressed their frustration openly. They have held the instrument upside down while pretending to play. Others have deliberately produced wrong notes, the source said. They felt discriminated against during the assignment process.
The source acknowledged that the performance does give students a real chance to learn an instrument. Discrimination in how instruments were assigned is also real, the source said. Still, students practicing their instruments skip other tasks the school would otherwise demand of them. Those tasks include cleaning duties and hauling construction materials at building sites. Because of that, discontent among students assigned the piri appears to be fading over time, the source said.
Rodong Sinmun is the official newspaper of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party. It reported in April last year that Kim had sent musical instruments to newly built schools in North Pyongan, Jagang and Ryanggang provinces. Flooding had damaged the original schools the year before.
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July 22, 2026 at 07:21PM
by DailyNK(North Korean Media)