JINGFEI CHEN WRITES – According to all news reports, North Korean President Kim Jong-Un and his wife Ri Sol Ju listened happily to a K-Pop concert performed by a group of South Korean singers in Pyongyang.
The concert lasted more than two hours, after which time Kim Jong-Un enthusiastically applauded the performing band “Red Velvet” and was, in his own words, “deeply moved.” However, the dance performed by Red Velvet was different from its original edition. It had been revised for a North Korean political atmosphere. “Inappropriate” movements such as deep squats and twerking were eliminated.
Ri Sol Ju, North Korea’s first lady, was herself once a singer, in the North Korean Unhasu Orchestra, before marrying Kim Jong-Un. She also spent time studying in China and visited South Korea in 2005 during the Asian Athletic Championships.
This marks a break-through of popular culture, since K-Pop and other kinds of South Korean media and entertainment are strictly banned in North Kore; it is illegal to watch South Korean soap operas or listen to South Korean news. Offenders will be put in prison.
The concert was a diplomatic move aimed at easing the tension brought on by U.S. President Donald Trump, between North Korea and South Korea. K-Pop has been used for diplomatic purposes many time before.. Allegedly, the South Korean government has used different strategies to beam and stream K-Pop music and videos across the border so as to show North Korean soldiers’ what they have been missing.
Sounds good to us.
Ri Sol Ju, North Korea’s first lady, was herself once a singer, in the North Korean Unhasu Orchestra, before marrying Kim Jong-Un. She also spent time studying in China and visited South Korea in 2005 during the Asian Athletic Championships. Like first ladies in other counties before her, Ri Sol Ju’s soft-power approach and love of the arts might just work more miracles for peace than rocket science ever could.
Thank you for this writing.