Cartoon films are enjoyed by everybody—men and women, young and old—and they are on everyone’s lips whenever new ones are produced. The success is much attributable to the efforts of actors and actresses behind the scenes.

Those who take the speaking parts of lead characters in the currently popular historical animation Ko Jumong said they initially found it difficult to portray the characters to meet the corresponding era with their voices.

But they made painstaking efforts to finely characterize righteous and upright Ko Jumong, double-faced Puyo King Kumwa and other figures, thus contributing greatly to the hit.

The viewers who read their names at the end of each cartoon part call them “unseen actors and actresses” and “actors and actresses behind the screens”.

They made their first public appearance at the comedy show given in celebration of the 75th founding anniversary of the Workers’ Party of Korea in October last year.

The audience burst into laughter and applause as they saw a beautiful young actress say some lines of aggressive yet charming Somi, wife of lead negative character Hobi, and their greedy and perverse little twin sons from animation The Boy General.

“During my acting career, I won such warm applause from the audience for the first time. Frankly speaking, I felt ashamed of my speaking parts of Hobi’s little sons who are so greedy and grumble all the time and so I did not tell anybody about it. But as I received the enthusiastic applause from the audience, I felt pride in my job and resolved to work harder,” said Tong Yun Mi, actress of the Korea April 26 Animation Studio.

“As I saw Soeme practising martial arts, I studied hard at school. And as I saw him growing up to be a veteran general, I reached middle age unawares,” U Sung Hyok, a worker of the Chollima Tile Factory, said smilingly.

According to Song Hyon Il, actor of the National Theatrical Troupe who spoke the part of crafty, vicious and ugly Hobi, actors in charge of the speaking role of Hobi were replaced several times as the cartoon was produced over a long period of time and so he had to rack his brains to preserve the tones and features of representation of his predecessors.

He visited many experts to complete different kinds of laughs to suit the dramatic situations.

Among the characters of the animation there are the kind-hearted and generous mother of Soeme, the lead positive character, and the mean and avaricious mother of Hobi.

What is surprising is that an actress had the speaking parts of the two characters who are worlds apart in nature.

After graduating from Pyongyang University of Dramatic and Cinematic Arts, Rim Pok Hui, actress of the Korea April 26 Animation Studio, was involved in the production of The Boy General for over 20 years and showed off her remarkable speaking skill as she represented them.