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The band lights up second round of talks between the two Koreas

Renewed talks between North and South Korea focus on plans for North Korean artists to perform at the Winter Olympics.

North Korea’s chief delegate Kwon Hyok-bong, left, and South Korea’s chief delegate Lee Woo-sung arrive for the talks yesterday. Picture: AFP
North Korea’s chief delegate Kwon Hyok-bong, left, and South Korea’s chief delegate Lee Woo-sung arrive for the talks yesterday. Picture: AFP

Renewed talks between North and South Korea yesterday focused on plans for North Korean artists to perform in the South in association with next month’s Winter Olympics, including the all-female Moranbong Band that plays synthesiser-driven music.

Yesterday’s talks were held in the Tongil Pavilion just inside the North Korean part of the Panmunjom “truce village” that straddles the highly militarised border between the countries.

Seoul had wished to broaden the scope of the talks, but Pyongyang wished to confine it to the art troupe it intends to send as part of its Olympic participation, which was agreed to in breakthrough ­negotiations a week ago.

Further talks between the countries are scheduled for this Saturday at the headquarters of the International Olympic Committee in Lausanne.

Yesterday’s negotiators included key officials from the countries’ leading orchestras, and the prospect was canvassed of a joint musical performance at the PyeongChang Games, which will be held from February 9-25 in the northwest of South Korea.

The four delegates from the North also included Hyon Song-wol, leader of the Moranbong Band, whose presentation and music are Western in style but whose lyrics are uniquely North Korean. Their songs include We Call Him Father, a tribute to ­“Supreme Leader” Kim Jong-un, and Mother’s Birthday, praising the ruling Workers’ Party.

The band returned to Pyongyang after a performance in ­Beijing in 2015, when Chinese officials objected to their using in their show images of North Korean ­intercontinental ballistic missiles.

The 10 members of the Moranbong Band, singers and multi-­instrumentalists, are reported to be selected by Kim.

The North Korean delegation at yesterday’s talks was led by Kwon Hyok-bong, director of the Culture Ministry’s performing arts bureau. Mr Kwon five years ago played a leading role in a tour to France of the Unhasu Orchestra, with which Kim’s wife Ri Sol-ju is believed to have been a singer.

In 2013 it was widely reported in South Korea that several band members had been executed at the behest of Kim, and Unhasu has not performed since.

Pyongyang’s Korean Central News Agency on Sunday lam­basted South Korean President Moon Jae-in for seeking to discuss the North’s denuclearisation during the detente ­between the two sides. The agency said that this proposal from Mr Moon — who has dubbed the coming Games the “Peace Olympics” — risked “chilling the atmosphere”.

Yesterday’s talks focused ­instead on administrative details relating to the visit of artists to the South, such as the number of ­performers, their travel route and schedules.

North Korean media also ­attacked Mr Moon for praising the role of US President Donald Trump in pushing Pyongyang to the negotiating table through the imposition of tougher sanctions.

The agency said that Mr Moon’s attitude “casts doubt as to his intent to improve North-South ties and build confidence”. It urged the South to help create a mood of “reconciliation and unification”.

South Korea has said that it would like to see a unified Korean team in women’s ice hockey during the Games.

Pyongyang has not yet form­ally responded, but its IOC representative Chang Ung said last weekend that the committee was already considering this proposal.

North Korea has, however, said it is positively considering allowing its athletes to march alongside their South Korean comrades at the opening ceremony, as happened at the Summer Olympics in Sydney in 2000.

Only two North Korean ­athletes currently qualify for the Games: figure skating pair Ryom Tae-ok and Kim Ju-sik.

Foreign ministers from about 20 countries are due to meet in Vancouver tonight in a meeting co-hosted by the US, to discuss how to apply further diplomatic and economic pressure to staunch North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.

Of the core countries involved in pressuring North Korea, Japan and South Korea are set to attend, but neither China nor Russia, thus considerably limiting the meeting’s scope to achieve change.

Rowan Callick
Rowan CallickContributor

Rowan Callick is a double Walkley Award winner and a Graham Perkin Australian Journalist of the Year. He has worked and lived in Papua New Guinea, Hong Kong and Beijing.

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/world/the-band-lights-up-second-round-of-talks-between-the-two-koreas/news-story/9ca0dcb188a7ead33c410501cac407ef