Jo Nov 5, 2025

Oungum is a musical instrument which was initiated, led to completion and named by Chairman Kim Jong Il during the days of military camping in Oun-dong in August 1962, when he was conducting revolutionary activities at Kim Il Sung University. It is a new kind of national string instrument of our times, possessed of the tone features peculiar to Korean national instruments. It consists of gourd-shaped sound box, neck and head. On the upper side of the box is a round sound hole. On the neck are low metal bridges and on the head are four hairpin-shaped tuning pegs. Holding the instrument on your lap, you control tones by pressing the strings on the frets with your left fingers and produce sound by plucking and striking the strings with a triangular plectrum in your right hand. There are various executions including thrumming, tremolo, etc. With clear timbre and rich expression, oungum is used in various forms of performances such as solo, ensemble, concert, accompaniment to songs, mixed orchestra, etc. Especially, the sound of unique mixed orchestration of string instruments centered on oungum and western instruments like accordions and wind instruments gives a distinctive emotion which can never be produced by any other kind of orchestral music.