South Korean musicians hold concert in Pyongyang

South Korean musicians held a concert and taekwondo athletes gave performances in Pyongyang Sunday as part of cross-border exchanges ahead of a historic inter-Korean summit slated for next month. 

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his wife attended the concert in Pyongyang by the South's 120-member  art troupe, the South Korean culture ministry said.

The North Korean leader said that the two Koreas should hold cultural events more often and suggested another event in Seoul this autumn, according to a pool report. 

Under the theme title “Spring comes,” the South Korean musicians, including legendary singer Cho Yong-pil and K-pop girl band Red Velvet, performed a concert at the 1,500-seat East Pyongyang Grand Theater in Pyongyang for two hours starting at 6:30 p.m. (South Korean time).

North Korea requested the show, which was originally scheduled for 5:30 p.m., be delayed one hour at the last minute for the “convenience of more audience,” according to the pool report. 

Two other high-level North Korean officials -- Kim's sister Kim Yo-jong and the country's nominal head of state Kim Yong-nam -- also watched the show, the pool report said. 

Eleven Korean acts in the lineup of the concerts are: Cho Yong-pil, Lee Sun-hee, Choi Jin-hee, Yoon Do-hyun, Baek Ji-young, Red Velvet, Jungin, Seohyun, Ali, Kang San-eh and Kim Kwang-min. Only four of the five members of Red Velvet -- Wendy, Irene, Selgi and Yeri -- attended the concerts. Joy was absent due to scheduling conflicts with her TV show, her agency said. 

Seohyun of Girls’ Generation, who made a surprise collaboration with North Korean artists when the North’s art troupe performed in Seoul last month, hosted the Sunday's concert.

The South Korean art troupe are to stage a joint show with North Korean artists for a two-hour run at the 12,000-seat Ryugyong Jong Ju Yong Gymnasium on Tuesday.

It marks the first by South Korean artists to perform in the North since Cho held a solo concert in Pyongyang in 2005.

South Korean Taekwondo athletes gave performances at the Taekwon-Do Hall on Sunday and are scheduled to hold a joint performance with North Korean athletes at the Pyongyang Grand Theatre on Monday.

The South Korean delegation’s visit comes after North Korea dispatched athletes, cheerleaders and art performers to South Korea on the occasion of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics held here in February.

Following a year of tensions heightened by North Korea’s nuclear and missile provocations, the two Koreas saw a rare thaw since the North’s participation in the Games. They are set to hold a historic summit on April 27. Riding on the momentum, North Korea is set to hold talks with the US on denuclearization before the end of May.

Led by Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister Do Jong-whan, the musicians flew from Seoul’s Gimpo airport aboard a charted civilian flight to Pyongyang via a direct air route between the two Koreas on Saturday. A 70-member technical crew flew into the North on Thursday to set up the equipment.

North Korea‘s culture minister Pak Chun-nam and Hyon Song-wol, head of the North’s all-female Moranbong Band, greeted them at the airport, according to the pool report.

During a meeting with North Korea‘s Culture Minister Pak, Do said he hopes the planned performance will serve as a stepping stone for inter-Korean cultural exchange and cooperation which he thinks are key to improving inter-Korean relations.

Do told reporters in Pyongyang that the ministry plans to propose to the North that the joint project to compile the Korean People’s Grand Dictionary -- collection of South Korean and North Korean vocabulary -- be resumed. The ministry also plans to suggest the North resume its cross-border project to excavate the site of Manwoldae, a Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392) palace located in Gaesong, according to the pool report.

The inter-Korean projects were suspended in 2015 at the height of tensions between the two Koreas over North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.

As for sports exchanges, Do said that the ministry will propose a creation of a joint team with the North at the Asian Games that will take place in Indonesia in August, the pool report said.

“I hope cultural, art, sports, religious and social group exchanges can contribute to recovering national homogeneity and forming a conciliatory atmosphere,” Do told pool reporters Saturday in Pyongyang.

While in Pyongyang Do plans to meet with North Korean figures in those fields to discuss ways to expand culture and sports exchanges.

The South Korean delegation will return Tuesday night.

(laeticia.ock@heraldcorp.com)