South and North Korea kicked off working-level talks Tuesday to discuss a South Korean art troupe's planned performance in Pyongyang in early April.
Officials from both sides started the meeting at around 10 a.m. at the Tongilgak administrative building on the northern side of the Demilitarized Zone that bisects the two Koreas, according to Seoul's unification ministry.
South Korea agreed to send an art troupe and a taekwondo demonstration team to Pyongyang when South Korean special envoys met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in early March.
The move reciprocates North Korea's dispatch of musicians and traditional Korean martial art demonstrators on the occasion of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics last month.
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Yun Sang (C), South Korea`s chief delegate for inter-Korean working-level talks on a South Korean art troupe`s proposed concert in Pyongyang, speaks to reporters on March 20, before leaving for the border village of Panmunjom for a meeting. (Yonhap) |
Yun Sang, a popular singer and composer who has been tapped as the music director for Seoul's art troupe, is South Korea's chief delegate for Tuesday's talks.
"The talks are the first inter-Korean official consultation over the South's art troupe. I think that a list of music is likely to be mainly discussed during the meeting," Yun Sang told reporters before heading to the truce village of Panmunjom.
Hyon Song-wol, head of the all-female Moranbong Band, represents the North's delegation. She crossed the inter-Korean border last month as the leader of a North Korean art troupe for performances in South Korea.
The Ministry of Unification said that Yun Sang, 50, is deemed suitable as director of Seoul's art group, given his experience in dealing with diverse genres and the short period of preparations for a Pyongyang concert.
It said that in selecting the head of the art troupe, the government highly valued a person who is well-versed in the musical tastes of different generations.
It marks the first time that a South Korean entertainer will represent the South's delegation for inter-Korean talks.
Seoul's culture ministry said that an art group is expected to be joined by various musicians for a concert that will be centered on South Korean pop music.
In 1985, South Korean musicians held their first concert in Pyongyang as part of cultural inter-Korean exchanges. In the 2000s, various Korean pop singers, including Cho Yong-pil, regarded as a contemporary Korean pop legend, and idol groups, performed in the North's capital. (Yonhap)
