Hyon is healthy and fond of traditional kimchi in particular. She walks alone and is still good at needlework and knitting.

According to Ri Myong Ok, a doctor in charge of her health, the state of her cerebral nerve is the same as the people in their sixties.

She was born into a poor peasant family in Orang County, North Hamgyong Province and learnt the Korean alphabet for the first time at an adult school after Korea's liberation from Japan's colonial rule.

She has seven children and 13 grandchildren who are all university graduates.

Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un sent a birthday spread to her on her 100th birthday.