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North Korea?s rock chicks
Songs of praise
A North Korean girl band fails to take China by storm
Dec 19th 2015 | SEOUL | From the print edition
HARDLY had the group of two dozen winsome North Korean musicians arrived in Beijing, than they were on a flight back home. Their first ever overseas concert, set for December 12th at the National Centre for the Performing Arts (the ?egg?, as the giant building in the centre of the Chinese capital is known), had been cancelled. North Korea?s state news agency removed its gushing coverage of the all-female band?s tour from its website. Chinese censors swiftly erased news of the cancellation from their country?s social media.
Mysterious last-minute plug-pulling on performances by foreigners are the norm in China. But they usually involve the discovery of political incorrectness: a singer?s sympathy with Tibetan independence, for example. The North Korean soft-rock band, Moranbong, could hardly be faulted on that score. Their number ?A Song of a Big Haul of Fish? is typical: according to the North Korean news agency it describes an ?abundant life under socialism?.
More to the point, Moranbong is a favourite of North Korea?s leader, Kim Jong Un, who is said to have set it up himself three years ago as a ?standard-bearer on the ideological and cultural front?. Its five lead singers, who expose an unusual amount of leg for such a puritanical country, have been credited with ?arousing? every member of the 1.1m-strong North Korean army. Mr Kim, it is thought, selected the women personally (his fondness for them is reciprocated in their song ?We Can?t Live Without His Care?).
Xinhua, a Chinese state-run news agency, said that the band?s tour had been called off because of ?communication issues?. Theories range from North Korean anger over gossip in South Korea?s press about a rumoured dalliance between Mr Kim and the bandleader, to North Korean ire over the low rank of Chinese delegates attending the concerts, to Chinese displeasure at lyrics heard in a dress rehearsal?too effusive, maybe, about the North?s nuclear programme (a video of North Korean missiles being launched featured in at least one of Moranbong?s shows).
But few think the incident means ties are getting frostier again. China?s foreign ministry was quick to say that it would push ?co-operation forward on all levels, including cultural exchanges?. According to some, North Korea?s ambassador to China apologised to local officials for the cancellation. A former senior official at the Blue House, South Korea?s presidential office, says there has been ?very serious? discussion between North Korea and China about a possible visit to Beijing by Mr Kim?his first since assuming power four years ago. That long-awaited debut is still one to watch out for in 2016.
http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21684184-north-korean-girl-band-fails-take-china-storm-songs-praise
