Playing live in Pyongyang
Updated on 25 February 2008
Diplomats hope the New York Philharmonic Orchestra's visit to Pyongyang will help prise open this reclusive state.
The list of items you must declare on landing at Pyongyang Airport include the following: explosives, killing device, drug, exciter, poison, GPS or Navigator, cell phone, publishing of all kinds.
My first thought was, what is an exciter and why can't I have one? The next, how many countries in the world equate poison and explosives with cell phones and "publishing of all kinds"?
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea sees information and communication as truly dangerous, which is why the visit of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra accompanied by 80 international journalists is such an unusual occasion.
Our cell phones have been confiscated, but they've allowed Associated Press Television News (APTN) to set up a press centre with internet - generally banned in North Korea - and a television point where you can feed tapes and do live stand-ups. Live means hard to control, so that is a real stretch for this government.
Tuesday night's concert will be broadcast live not only to the USA and some European countries but also in North Korea. The orchestra will start with the North Korean national anthem and the Star Spangled Banner, followed by Gershwin's An American in Paris, Dvorak's "New World" Symphony and the prelude to Act lll of Wagner's Lohengrin.
Cultural diplomacy has history - remember "ping pong" dipomacy when American and Chinese table tennis players exchanged visits in the early 70s.
Cultural diplomacy has history - remember "ping pong" dipomacy when American and Chinese table tennis players exchanged visits in the early 70s.
But some conservative Americans say this visit by one of the country's major orchestras will just give succour to a dictator. They fear that the Dear Leader, Kim Jong Il, will make propaganda, presenting the concert as a tribute to him rather than an attempt to build bridges.
Maybe. Certainly, the audience is likely to include only people from the first few of the 51 ranks in the North Korean political and social hierachy.
So far, the North Korean news agency has reserved its floweriest language for the East Pyongyang Grand Theatre where the concert will take place.
"Perfect are the harp-shaped walls of the seating hall, the stage and the latest sound facilities," says one report. "The grand columns of formative beauty, the mural depicting the splendorous Ulrim Falls and other fascinating decorations of the central hall add grace to the theatre."
But diplomats, including the chief US negotiator Chris Hill, hope that the concert will help prise open this reclusive state, which is in a faltering process to dismantle its nuclear facilities as part of a deal agreed with the USA and four other countries in the region.
Who knows what impact the concert will have? According to one defector, the Dear Leader is a "fine pianist" himself. Maybe he'll show up at the concert tomorrow night and do a turn.
