As the eldest son of the painter Kang Ho, who moved to North Korea, he was influenced by his father.

From the mid-to-late 1970s, his achievements in thematic painting gradually established him as an artist with an individual creative voice.

Some of his works received high praise and awards at national art exhibitions, and many entered the collection of the Korean Art Museum.

Accounts from North Korea describe him as earnest by nature, avoiding displays of technical virtuosity and relying on sustained work rather than chance success.

His younger siblings also studied at Pyongyang University of Fine Arts: Kang Su-jin became a designer and Kang Sin-il an artist, making art a family pursuit.

After his mother died when he was four, he grew up in the care of his eldest brother, Kim Ki-chang. Watching his brother paint inspired his own aspirations in art.

While attending Gyeonggi Public High School in 1949, he studied with Ri Hae-song, Ri Sun-jong and Kil Jin-sop—a professor at Seoul National University before the war—and submitted work to exhibitions.

Ro Son-ju was an established Chosonhwa painter who drew on a thorough grounding in traditional techniques to give figure paintings, landscapes and other subjects a distinctly Korean feeling.

His style was influential in Nampo, where a number of Chosonhwa painters adopted related approaches.

He rejected needless exaggeration and ornament, seeking to reveal the beauty of his subjects through faithful observation of their actual appearance.

His works have consequently been praised for their warmth, familiarity and refined feeling.

He developed his own way of depicting the shapes and folds of rocky mountains, combining seemingly rough passages into a harmonious whole.

He was particularly skilled at rendering trees and pavilions. His landscape painting reached maturity after the 1980s, and his works appeared regularly in exhibitions abroad.

He became known as a talented painter in China, Japan and other countries.

Orphaned young, he endured a difficult childhood. He went to China with his brother, completed primary school and repaired sacks at a flour mill in Harbin. After liberation, he returned home and did odd jobs at a sign shop and a furniture factory before entering Hongik University's art department.

During the Korean War, he moved north, where he worked as an artist and produced many thematic paintings.

In later years he concentrated on boneless flower-and-bird painting, becoming known for his contribution to that tradition in North Korea.

Hwang Byong-ho became known for the evocative atmosphere of his landscapes.

He succeeded in rendering large works with great delicacy using traditional gold-pigment techniques. The subtle harmony of gold tones lends his paintings distinction.

During his time at Mansudae Art Studio, he submitted many works to national and specialized exhibitions. More than ten were displayed as collection pieces at the Korean Art Museum.

An early work was the mural “Sunrise” for the central hall of the Pyongyang Students and Children's Palace.

In the 1970s, while organizing and directing murals at Mansudae Art Studio, Ri Jong-won became recognized as a leading figure in a new phase of North Korean mural art.

He organized and directed murals for major public buildings, including the People's Palace of Culture, Kim Il Sung Stadium, the April 25 House of Culture and Mansudae Art Theatre.

Kim Sang-hun worked both as a painter and as a film art director.

He taught theatre and film art for many years and participated in numerous feature films, turning increasingly to painting after the 1980s.

His oil painting “Mansudae Hill in July 1994” was praised personally by Kim Jong Il as a profound work and an outstanding achievement.

As an educator, he wrote or edited teaching materials including “Film Set Design,” “A Sourcebook of Film Stage Art,” “Painting Studies” and “Film Art.”

Inspired by his elder brother Ku Bon-sik, he began drawing as a child and won awards at two art exhibitions while in middle school.

He frequently visited the noted painter Oh Ji-ho for lessons, broadening his knowledge of art.

From 1982 until his final years, Ku Bon-yong continued working at the North Pyongan Provincial Art Studio. He took a strong interest in the province's artistic development, organizing and directing creative projects and art education activities.

Initially worked mainly on murals, turning primarily to oil painting from the 1980s.

Choe Jung-gyun received systematic instruction in the fundamentals of art two or three times a week from Kim Sok-ryong, a neighbor who headed the painting department at Pyongyang University of Fine Arts and had taught there since its founding in 1947.

Under his teacher's strict and detailed guidance, he learned to sketch with a finely sharpened E pencil, described in the source as soft, rather than the B pencil he had previously used.

During his first ten years at the Railway Art Studio, he mainly painted copies for outdoor display. Moving between oil painting, Chosonhwa and watercolor without a clear focus, he struggled to produce work that gained recognition.

Despite limited formal training, he began entering national and specialized exhibitions every year in the 1980s. Advice and encouragement from artists and critics helped him find and develop his own style.

He later gained a reputation for a sensitive eye for color and bold, rapid execution that captured the changing appearances of everyday reality.

Pyo Se-jong approached oil painting with seriousness, striving to depict the concrete details of life truthfully and realistically.

His work is described as honest and direct, expressing ordinary people's feelings with an accessible quality, without needless technical display or excessive formalism.

Jang Myong-ryong created many imaginatively composed landscapes. His successful 1997 solo exhibition in Pyongyang drew praise from specialists for his exceptional and distinctive sense of color.

He is described as an established oil painter of considerable creative imagination, known for prolific work and tireless enthusiasm.