South Korea is Sending K-pop Stars to Perform in North Korea

The art troupe, which consists of 160 members — including K-pop legend Cho Yong-pil, the five-member girl group Red Velvet, and former member of Girls’ Generation, Seohyun — will arrive in North Korea sometime early April ahead of its expected summit of the two nations later next month, according to Yonhap News.

“Our goal is to impress North Koreans in the same way as South Koreans are moved by their musicians,” Yoon Sang, a Korean singer and composer who is named as the South Korea’s chief delegate to the talks, said during the press briefing.

There is also a possibility that both North and South Korea will hold a joint performance during the visit, but it still unconfirmed if this plan will actually move forward.

“Selected South Korean musicians are known to North Korea as icons of South Korean pop music beyond ideology,” the 50-year-old artist said.

A team of scouts will be sent to North Korea in advance to check and see possible venues for the concert, which will last from Thursday to Saturday this week. However, two venues have already been named in the report: the 1,500-seat East Pyongyang Grand Theater and the Ryugyong Jong Ju Yong Gymnasium that is said to be able to accommodate about 12,000 visitors.

This is not the first goodwill effort between the two Koreas after the Olympics this year — it is still unclear if the announced continued joint military exercise of the United States in South Korea would have any kind of impact in the talks between the latter and the hermit nation, since it is proposed to start again on April 1.

Additionally, Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un are expected to have a face-to-face meeting, even more so that the latter is reportedly planning to ask the U.S. for a peace treaty.

Featured image via Wikimedia Commons / secret_icecream (CC BY-SA 4.0)