The Moranbong Band, whose members were said to be handpicked by North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, were on a goodwill mission to Beijing and were set to perform three concerts starting Saturday night.
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China’s official Xinhua news agency said the performance could not be staged due to “communication issues at the working level”.
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The abrupt pull-out from a performance in China by Moranbong Band, North Korea’s answer to South Korea’s head-turning girl groups, is likely to strain ties between Pyongyang and Beijing, but the degree of which remains heavily disputed.
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So far, Cork says the theaters sold out 12 of the 66 showtimes for those first 30 hours – over 2,000 presale orders. almost } million at the box office during the opening weekend alone, according to iMDb .
Other experts suggested North Korea initially expected Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, to be at the concert, and felt slighted when he was not due to attend.
Although Kim Jong Un may have hoped that the Moranbong Band would help defuse tensions, it’s hard to imagine that a hit single like”Our Dear Leader!”.
“If so, it would have little impact on bilateral ties between North Korea and China”, Yang said.
Neither North Korea nor China have commented on the latest developments, although based on the coverage by North Korea’s official KNCA, the band is clearly a chart-buster at home. The group was seen hurriedly departing for Beijing airport on Saturday afternoon. The band tends to perform songs in praise of the North Korean regime and wear quasi-military style dress, in fact, the members hold high ranks in the military and are also seen as a part of a military orchestra.
Radio Free Asia quoted a source in Beijing as saying that Hyon Song-wol, who apparently leads the pop band and is said to have been Kim’s ex-girlfriend, ordered the band to pack up and leave when Chinese officials requested a change to the repertoire. But the much-anticipated worldwide debut of the Moranbong Band at Beijing?s National Theater last weekend was nixed just hours before it was to begin and the ladies hopped the first flight back to Pyongyang. But she showed up in 2014, and was among the two dozen band members briefly in Beijing this weekend.
North Korea has postponed a major communist party congress until October 10 next year, according to Pyongyang’s state media Wednesday.
There was no hint of trouble when they practised in Beijing’s National Centre for Performing Arts on Friday.
We’re not talking about South Korea’s PSY but rather North Korea’s most popular 18-member girl group, Moranbong Band.
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Although North Korea is still recovering from the severe crisis in the 1990s, construction of infrastructure and economic activities picked up since Kim Jong-un assumed power in 2011. Despite the visits exchanged by Choe and Liu, Beijing and Pyongyang have more work to do to get their relationship back on track.
