South Korean composer Yoon Sang (left), who will lead a delegation of performers in Pyongyang, holds working-level talks with Hyun Song-wol, director of the North Korean Samjiyon Orchestra, at the Panmunjom Tongilgak Pavilion on March 20. (Ministry of Unification)
By Xu Aiying and Sohn JiAe
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) has unveiled the schedule for the Pyongyang shows that will be given by a delegation of South Korean performers and by a taekwondo demonstration team.
On March 27, the MCST announced that the South Korean performers will have an exclusive two-hour concert at 5 p.m. on April 1 at the East Pyongyang Grand Theatre, with a 1,500-seat capacity. The troupe will then collaborate with North Korean performers for two hours on April 3 at the Ryugyong Chung Ju-yung Gymnasium, with 12,309 seats.
MCST spokesperson Hwang Seong-un said that, “The delegation, comprised of about 190 performers, taekwondo practitioners, staff, journalists and other supporters, will visit Pyongyang, led by culture minister Do Jongwhan.”
The troupe includes a total of 10 singers and one group, including Cho Yong-pil, Lee Sun-hee, Choi Jin-hee, Yoon Do-hyun, Baek Ji-young, Jung In, Seo-hyeon, Ali, Kang San-ae and Kim Kwang-min, and the pop group Red Velvet.
Their performances will be recorded and aired both in South and North Korea. Stage equipment needed for the concerts will be provided by the North’s Korean Central Television, while required technologies, filming and editing will be undertaken by the South’s MBC.
The MCST also made public the schedule for the taekwondo team.
The taekwondo demonstration team will perform exclusively at the Taekwondo Hall in Pyongyang on April 1. On the following day, the South Korean athletes will stage a five-minute collaboration with their North Korean counterparts at the Pyongyang Grand Theater, following an exclusive 25-minute demonstration by each side.
The World Taekwondo Federation will take part in the upcoming Pyongyang shows, as it did in an inter-Korean demonstration show for the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games in February.
“The official title for the Pyongyang shows that run from March 31 to April 3 is ‘South Korean Art Troupe’s Pyongyang Performances in Hopes for Peaceful Cooperation Between Two Koreas,’ and the theme is, ‘Spring comes,’” said the culture ministry. “The theme of ‘spring’ comes from the fact that — literally — spring has come now, and, also, so, too, has our hope that spring will come in terms of the inter-Korean relationship.”
xuaiy@korea.kr
