Pyongyang, November 8 (KCNA) -- Among the folk games of Korea, there is top spinning which was widely disseminated in the period of the Three States and has been handed down up to now.

Top spinning is a children's game of whipping a top to make it spin on the ice or the ground.

There are many kinds of tops including the one with flat top and a point at the bottom, the one with pointed top and bottom, the one with a groove in the middle.

The whip for spinning a top consists of a string made of cotton thread and a straight stick whose length is about 50 cm.

Children about ten play top spinning by measuring how long their tops lasted after spinning them to run into each other, by competing how fast they can reach a destination while spinning a top and by watching how long their tops spun after releasing them to far away.

In the period of the feudal Joson dynasty, the top was called "Phingi" and it has been called today's "Phaengi" from modern times.

In folk holidays such as the lunar New Year's Day and the January 15th of the lunar calendar, children play various folk games including top spinning, shuttlecock game and rope-skipping.

While whittling a wood into a top and coloring it, children develop their thinking ability and hand skill. And they also develop their physical strength by spinning a top.

Top spinning has been registered as a national intangible cultural heritage. -0-