Kim watches Kpop gig
RECONCILIATION USS Korea drill cut in view of thaw, likely USN Korea summit
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Sunday attended the first concert in Pyongyang for over a decade by South Korean entertainers, including a K-pop girlband, the latest gesture of reconciliation before a rare inter-Korean summit.
The visit, described by many as a cultural charm-offensive by the South, came as a diplomatic thaw quickens on the peninsula after months of military tensions. The 120-member group--11 musical acts as well as dancers, technicians and martial artists -- gave one concert, with another set for Tuesday.Kim and his wife, a former singer herself, came to watch Sunday’s show, making him the first leader of the North to attend a concert by South Korean performers.
Kim shook hands and took photos with the Seoul stars backstage, saying inter-Korean cultural events should be held more often and suggesting another event in the South Korean capital this autumn, pool reports said.
The young couple were seen clapping their hands during the two-hour event -- also attended by Kim’s powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong, and ceremonial head of state Kim Yong Nam.
The South’s taekwondo athletes also staged a performance before an audience of 2,300 in Pyongyang ahead of a joint display of the Korean martial art with the North’s practitioners on Monday.
The rapprochement was triggered by the South’s Winter Olympics, to which Kim sent athletes, cheerleaders and his powerful sister as an envoy.
In another sign of eased tensions, an annual US-South Korean military exercise which got under way in the South Sunday will last for just one month compared to some two months normally.
This year’s drills feature fewer strategic weapons such as a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, Seoul’s military has said.