Diplomacy at fever pitch as K-pop stars perform for Kim
KIM JONG-UN and Ri Sol-ju, his wife, attended a rare performance by South Korean K-pop singers yesterday, in the latest of a series of diplomatic breakthroughs between the two countries.
The evening concert at the East Pyongyang Grand Theatre, the first visit by South Korean artists to the North Korean capital in over a decade, has been touted as another gesture of reconciliation before a scheduled summit between the leaders of the divided Korean Peninsula on April 27.
The performance of the 160-strong delegation of K-pop bands and singers to 1,500 members of the Pyongyang elite overshadowed the start of annual joint military exercises between South Korea and the US, which have traditionally been a source of tension with the North.
The drills, postponed by a month to avoid any disruption to the February Winter Olympics in South Korea, have been shortened and toned down this year to reflect a diplomatic détente on the peninsula that began in January.
After a spike in tensions last year over Pyongyang’s nuclear and missiles programmes, Mr Kim has now agreed to meetings with Moon Jae-in, the South Korean president, and Donald Trump, the US president, to discuss denuclearisation.
The K-pop delegation, due to stage two concerts in Pyongyang over four days, is a reciprocal act of cultural diplomacy after the North sent the Samjiyon Orchestra and its perfectly synchronised cheerleading squad to the Olympics. Yesterday’s event marked the first time a North Korean leader has attended a South Korean performance in the capital. Mr Kim was seen clapping in time to some of the songs and later took pictures with the performers after the show.
“[He] showed much interest during the show and asked questions about the songs and lyrics,” said Do Jongwhan, the culture minister.
The concert included 11 K-pop singers and bands from a variety of genres, ranging from traditional folk songs to modern K-pop, with Seohyun, a 26-year-old singer from Girls Generation, a mega-band, acting as master of ceremony.
Centre stage was Red Velvet, the chart-topping girl band, hoping to wow the historically stiff North Korean audience with their hit tunes Red Flavour and Bad Boy, about a femme fatale who becomes attracted to man who appears to be a rogue.
Other artists included Cho Yong-pil, the influential 68-year-old “King” of Kpop who last performed solo in Pyongyang in 2005, and Choi Jin-hee, 61, who has appeared in the North three times before.
Ms Choi has been credited with helping South Korean pop culture gain traction in the socialist state after Kim Jong-il, Mr Kim’s father, reportedly became a fan of her song Love Maze.
The delegation will next hold a joint performance tomorrow with acts from both Koreas, in a stadium that can hold up to 12,000 people, and will stick to the symbolic theme Spring is Coming, to represent the thaw in relations.