There are hundreds of folklore games reflecting the children’s psychological peculiarities like rope skipping, tolajapgi game, top spinning, arm strength contest, shuttlecock game, knee jostling, counting sticks game, seven chips game, letter puzzle and kkoni game. These have been created and developed in Korea from the ancient times.

   All of these games are useful for children’s physical training and intellectual development and have been continuously handed down with the passage of time.

   In early October Juche 87 (1998), Chairman Kim Jong Il gave precious instructions to encourage the children’s folklore games.

   He pointed out that in the past many folklore games had been played a lot like top spinning, shuttlecock game, hitting of a short wooden stick and throwing of a stone over the river to let it lightly touch the water surface several times but nowadays we could not see children playing those games, adding that few books for children’s games were issued.

   The Chairman said that children’s folklore games should not be regarded as simple games and children would acquire national traits through playing them. He continued that we should encourage children to play folklore games so that new generation could preserve the excellent national traits.

   In those days, officials were only paying attention to the economic life, not to the children’s folklore games. What is worse, some people even prohibited a game of slap-match, criticizing it as a game of tormenting each other. Thus, children playing folklore games could not be seen gradually.

   Thanks to the Chairman’s great love and benevolent measures to encourage the folklore games suited to the children’s mind and constitutions, the children’s folklore games were resumed in liveliness throughout the country.