The respected fatherly Marshal Kim Jong Un visited the Mangyongdae Schoolchildren’s Palace on the occasion of the New Year 2024 and met 17 talented children before seeing the schoolchildren’s New Year performance.

Kim Jin Ri, a first-year student of Mangyongdae Primary School in Mangyongdae District, the youngest among them, painted a bamboo with the single stroke technique of Korean painting in front of the fatherly Marshal.

After depicting the bamboo with the single stroke method in a minute, he asked the fatherly Marshal if he could present the painting to him.

Kim Jong Un patted his cheeks with a warm sense of paternal affection, making much of the young artist’s request.

Jin Ri said he felt like he was dreaming to see the fatherly Marshal, so the little boy pinched his leg several times to check if he was really awake.

“The honour Jin Ri had on New Year’s Day was the happiest event and greatest pleasure of our family,” said his mother Pak Kum Byol. “After meeting the respected Marshal, our Jin Ri became a student known to the whole country and envied by all.

Then she told a story about the kind teachers who valued and cultivated his talent.

When Jin Ri was four years old, his mother had him learn to play the piano to help develop his intelligence.

But he would often draw pictures on papers when he was not having piano lessons, and they were rather fine.

When Jin Ri was attending kindergarten, his grandmother showed his drawings to a teacher as she thought they were good enough.

Kang Hye Yong, the teacher, recalled that he had a natural talent for drawing pictures, adding she really enjoyed teaching him as he was such a fast learner.

Not long after he started drawing pictures, Jin Ri presented his coloured pencil drawing “Flower-bedecked wagon of happiness” to the Eighth Asian Children’s Art Exhibition held in Dalian, Liaoning province, China, in July 2022 on the theme of “Meeting, dream in winter, future” and won a prize.

The drawing depicted a flower-bedecked wagon driven by happy children who are growing up without envy under the care of the state which puts them forward as the king of the country and gives all kinds of loving care and benefits to them. It was highly appreciated by the jury for its true-to-life representation of children’s happiness.

Jin Ri entered the primary school in April last year and further improved his skills under the guidance of Ri Tong Hun, a fine art instructor of the Mangyongdae Schoolchildren’s Palace, who trained many excellent fine arts prodigies.

It is his dream to become an excellent artist and give greater pleasure to the fatherly Marshal.