Choe Jin Bom, a 21-year-old with locomotive disability at the Korean Art Association of the Disabled, is a talented percussionist and a popular singer as well.

The audiences were deeply impressed by his remarkable artistic skills when he hit drums and sang songs at the artistic performances given by persons with disabilities in such local areas as Wonsan, Phyongsong, Sariwon and Kaesong on the occasion of the National Day of Persons with Disabilities last June.

He was not artistically inclined in his childhood.

“It was not easy to acquire the skills of both instrumental and vocal music at the same time. But I thought nothing is impossible to a determined heart,” he said.

He added his success is unthinkable apart from the painstaking efforts and care of his instructor and many officials of the association.

He was a member of the football group of his primary school and dreamed of becoming a famous footballer. Unfortunately, however, he lost his one leg by careless mistake at the age of 10.

His parents were very sad and worried about the future of their only son.

Then one day, his home was visited by teachers of his school and officials of the Central Committee of the Korean Federation for the Protection of the Disabled.

Afterwards, under the painstaking care and guidance of the officials and instructors of the KAAD, he learned the basics of music and knacks of vocalization.

At the recommendation of the association, he took extracurricular lessons at the music group of the Pyongyang Students and Children’s Palace to refine his skills. In those days, he improved his artistic expertise and vision under the guidance of veteran musicians and through joint performances staged with students of Pyongyang Kim Won Gyun University of Music and Dance.

His clear and emotional voice captured the imagination of the audiences and caused a sensation on his foreign tours as a member of the Pyongyang exchange group of the disabled.

However, his heyday as a singer did not last long for voice change.

But he did not leave the stage. He grasped drumsticks.

It was very toilsome to acquire the skills of percussion instruments. The most distressing was to use the pedals. He felt great pain at the thigh adjoining a prosthesis whenever he stepped on the pedals. However, he was greatly encouraged by others who devoted themselves to him.

Everyone raised a shout of joy when he finally found his own way of using the pedals.

He is now a student of the online education faculty of Pyongyang Kim Won Gyun University of Music and Dance.

He also restored his reputation as a singer by doing vocal practice assiduously by sheer willpower.

“I will keep singing songs to repay the favour bestowed by our benevolent socialist system that has brought me joy of life,” said Choe Jin Bom.