Inter-Korean talks begin over South Korean arts troupe performance in North Korea
- 6 years ago
Another round of inter-Korean talks are taking place today, this time to arrange details for a South Korean arts troupe to visit Pyongyang.
Delegations from both sides are due to meet any minute at the border village of Panmunjeom.
We now connect to our Unification Ministry correspondent, Kwon Jang-ho, who is at the Special Office for Inter-Korean dialogue in Seoul.
Jang-ho....
Good morning, Mark.
The South Korean delegation left here, a couple of hours ago, and I just got word that they have made contact with the North Korean delegation at Panmunjeom.
The South Korean delegation is being led by Yoon Sang, a singer and composer who was chosen by Seoul to be the arts director for the arts troupe.
He's being accompanied by officials from the Unification Ministry and the Presidential Office.
The North Korean delegation is being led by Hyon Song-wol, the arts director for the North Korean arts troupe who performed in South Korea during last month's Winter Olympics.
They are expected to discuss the arrangements of an arts performance in Pyongyang, ranging from the date and time of the performance - or possibly multiple performances - to the number of performers and the type of music that will be played.
They could also agree to have a preliminary visit for Yoon, so that he can inspect the venues, which is what the North Korean arts troupe did for their performances.
So much to discuss. The North Korean performance in the South was a mixture of North Korean songs, with some South Korean pop and even western music thrown in for good measure. What do you think we can expect from South Korea's performance?
Seoul's decision to choose Yoon Sang is an interesting choice. He started his career as a singer in the early 90's, and now he's a composer and music producer for the stars.
His career spans some 30-odd years, and has dabbled in all sorts of music from classic ballads in his younger days, to modern K-Pop and even electronic dance music or EDM.
So the hope is that he will be able to represent the range of South Korean music well.
It will be interesting to see how the discussions go, because it's very rare for a civilian to be involved in these kind of talks, and not a government official.
The concert will likely take place early April, before the summit between the leaders of the two Koreas, which is slated for late April.
I'll be back later to keep you up to date on the situation.
Mark.
Delegations from both sides are due to meet any minute at the border village of Panmunjeom.
We now connect to our Unification Ministry correspondent, Kwon Jang-ho, who is at the Special Office for Inter-Korean dialogue in Seoul.
Jang-ho....
Good morning, Mark.
The South Korean delegation left here, a couple of hours ago, and I just got word that they have made contact with the North Korean delegation at Panmunjeom.
The South Korean delegation is being led by Yoon Sang, a singer and composer who was chosen by Seoul to be the arts director for the arts troupe.
He's being accompanied by officials from the Unification Ministry and the Presidential Office.
The North Korean delegation is being led by Hyon Song-wol, the arts director for the North Korean arts troupe who performed in South Korea during last month's Winter Olympics.
They are expected to discuss the arrangements of an arts performance in Pyongyang, ranging from the date and time of the performance - or possibly multiple performances - to the number of performers and the type of music that will be played.
They could also agree to have a preliminary visit for Yoon, so that he can inspect the venues, which is what the North Korean arts troupe did for their performances.
So much to discuss. The North Korean performance in the South was a mixture of North Korean songs, with some South Korean pop and even western music thrown in for good measure. What do you think we can expect from South Korea's performance?
Seoul's decision to choose Yoon Sang is an interesting choice. He started his career as a singer in the early 90's, and now he's a composer and music producer for the stars.
His career spans some 30-odd years, and has dabbled in all sorts of music from classic ballads in his younger days, to modern K-Pop and even electronic dance music or EDM.
So the hope is that he will be able to represent the range of South Korean music well.
It will be interesting to see how the discussions go, because it's very rare for a civilian to be involved in these kind of talks, and not a government official.
The concert will likely take place early April, before the summit between the leaders of the two Koreas, which is slated for late April.
I'll be back later to keep you up to date on the situation.
Mark.