“The now stalled economic partnership between South and North Korea is not desirable for both countries; the South needs to find new growth momentum, and the North is trying to innovate and open up its market”. On each occasion, he’s been widely condemned in the USA for heaping praise on the DPRK leader Kim Jong-Un.
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There’s something quite different about Laibach’s visit, however. Formed in what was then Yugoslavia in 1980, it built up a following within dissident circles during the 1980s before finding a few commercial success in the 1990s.
The band has been slated by some critics because of its ambiguous use of political and nationalist imagery. “But we have no way of controlling if its positive or negative”. An early frontman, Tomaz Hostnik, even committed a “ritual suicide” in 1982 (he was “posthumously expelled” from Laibach, according to the group’s Web site).
In an interview with the BBC, concert organizer Morten Traavik explained why the band felt tied to the country.
“He believes that Laibach is what Koreans need at the moment and that North Korea is what Laibach need”. Hong said South Korea “does not necessarily” set North Korea’s denuclearization as an absolute precondition for improved ties. “The truth is that both are misunderstood”, he said.
The minister said South Korea will help North Korea “make the right choice” on its nuclear program.
So the group’s performance could be viewed by North Koreans as a friendly one, supportive of their regime – or as an extremely offensive one.
The US was prepared for such negotiations with North Korea, “provided that they are authentic and credible, get at the entirety of the North’s nuclear programme, and result in concrete and irreversible steps toward denuclearisation”.
A five-member South Korean government delegation was received by their North Korean counterparts at a conference hall at the industrial zone. July 11 marked the seventh year since tourism to the scenic mountain was suspended after a South Korean tourist was killed by a North Korean soldier in July 2007.
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“Although our main mission is to give as many Koreans as possible the Laibach experience, we are also working hard to ensure that a certain number of foreign visitors, in the spirit of brotherhood and understanding between the peoples, will be welcome as well”, the band said in a statement.
