The Moranbong Band was visiting China along with North Korea’s State Merited Chorus and was due to perform at Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts on Dec 12.
Advertisement
Beijing chose to downgrade its presence on Thursday, the day that the Moranbong Band arrived in the Chinese capital and the same day that the North Korean leader claimed his scientists had built and deployed a hydrogen bomb.
A staff member at the National Theater, where they were to perform, said the concerts had been canceled, with no reason given.
The Communist Party of China’s International Liaison Department, which invited Moranbong, deleted photos on its website of its director, Song Tao, shaking hands with North Korean Workers Party secretary Choe Hui, who accompanied the performers and abridged related text. But due to Kim’s announcement, China chose to downgrade the rank of its attendees from the Politburo level to the vice-ministerial rank – instead of a Politburo member, a vice minister of culture would attend.
Now, North Korean watchers will go back to reading the tea leaves and trying to figure out what went wrong with this much-hyped trip.
The concerts had been seen as a sign of better relations between North Korea and its neighbour, ties that had been strained by Pyongyang’s nuclear test in 2013.
North Korea’s state media has published no reports about the cancellation.
According to the North Korean mouthpieces KCNA and the Korean Central TV, the banking officials at the conference discussed strategies to improve the economy by reviewing past “successes and experiences”. They are a contrast to the staid image of the brand of authoritarian socialism that has existed for decades in North Korea under the rule of three generations of the same family.
Liu was most senior official to have visited Pyongyang since Kim took power following the death of his father in late 2011.
The Moranbong Band, consisting of around 20 members – singers, a drummer and others playing instruments such as synthesizers and electronic violins – has been North Korea’s recent music sensation.
North Korea commits human rights violations on a regular basis and clearly shows no concern for the poor living conditions of its people.
Advertisement
The Yonhap report cited an unnamed source quoting an unnamed Chinese government official as saying the North had initially requested an audience that included President Xi Jinping or Premier Li Keqiang.
