N. Korea selects top artists for landmark performance in S. Korea: report

By Lim Chang-won Posted : February 6, 2018, 15:33 Updated : February 13, 2018, 16:07

North Korea's Mangyongbong-92 ferry carrying a 140-member art troupe sails into Mukho, a port on South Korea's east coast. [Yonhap News Photo]


SEOUL, Feb. 06 (Aju News) -- North Korea has reportedly selected top members from six or seven artistic groups, including the Moranbong girl band formed by leader Kim Jong-un, to show off their world-class performance technique at rare concerts in South Korea.

The North's Mangyongbong-92 ferry carrying a 140-member art troupe, which includes an orchestra, dancers and singers, sailed into at Mukho, a port on the South's east coast on Tuesday.

"North Korea seemed to have selected the most suitable unit for the repertoire to be performed in the South," an unnamed government official told Yonhap News Agency, adding the North insisted on using the ferry to provide convenient accommodation for their best and decorated artists. The 9,700-ton ferry, which was put into service in 1992, transported the North's cheering squad for the 2002 Asian Games in the southern port city of Busan.

The art troupe plans to perform in the eastern port of Gangneung on Thursday and in Seoul on Sunday. Public curiosity grew in South Korea when Hyon Song-wol, the female head of the Moranbong band, visited South Korea last month to inspect concert halls. The band has performed interpretive styles of pop, rock, and fusion since it made its global debut on July 6, 2012.

Moranbong quickly became a cultural symbol of limited openness to Western influences to young people in the isolated communist country. The acceptability of fashion items such as mini-skirts and high heels displayed by members as well as their hairstyles have become popular among middle-class Pyongyang girls.

The band's first performance featured Western popular culture imagery and music, including Disney characters with members playing their own instruments or making public appearances in uniforms. However, the girls have been largely used to promote Kim's political philosophy and messages.

North Korean has agreed to dispatch a total of 22 athletes for the Olympics as well as hundreds of cheerleaders, performers, martial arts demonstrators and others. Twelve female ice hockey players have formed a unified hockey team.
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