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Category: North Korea (Page 3 of 3)

Cultural Exchanges with North Korea that Matter

Hah. Just like Brian in Jeollanam-do, I just did a write-up about Oprah and Korea, only to find out that the Chosun Ilbo story that inspired my post was four years old.

Fine, I’ll delete my post and move on to something more timely and important — porn. More specifically, porn in North Korea. The Daily NK is reporting that South Korean softcore VCDs are selling in North Korea for $50 a pop.

Of course, this is hardly a new thing. TIME said that NK was being deluged by South Korean TV dramas and international porn way back in 2003.

One thing I found really interesting is that the NKs apparently call such films “colored movies.” I could not find the reporter’s original story in Korean, sadly, so was not able to see what the actual Korean was.

Myth-takes About the North Korean Concert Myths

UPDATE: Ben Rosen over at the Huffington Post (shudder) writes about his first-hand experiences about the North Korea trip made by the Symphony, and far more eloquently than myself describes what was good about it. Perhaps the biggest thing that I forgot to mention is the soon-to-be-opened Pyongyang Institute of Science and Technology. A science university, with classes in English? With three of the four directors Americans? That’s pretty wild stuff for North Korea. Could outside exposure be nearing the tipping point? Once enough people know the truth, will NK be forced to change? For the first time in ages, I actually have some hope.

ORIGINAL POST:
Griping about the New York Philharmonic Symphony’s trip to North Korea continues, with a column in the Wall Street Journal. Terry Teachout rebuts five “myths” about the NK concert… but most of those can be turned on their head just as easily to say the opposite. Typical of someone making assertions without facts or research to back them up.

– The fact that the audience responded warmly to the concert proves that it was a good idea. “We just went out and did our thing,” Mr. Maazel told reporters, “and we began to feel this warmth coming back. . . . I think it’s going to do a great deal.” Bunk. All it proves is that apparatchiks can be sentimental, too,

You could just as easily say that just because apparatchiks can be sentimental it means the concert was a bad idea. And you would be just as wrong.

Yes, most people living in Pyongyang are from North Korea’s elite. They appreciated the concert, although that does not mean much. Who would not appreciate a great concert? What, are they going to ‘boo’ because the second violin sucks? What else do you expect from any audience?

The audience responded warmly because that is what most audiences do. This means little one way or the other.

(Although Kim Cheol-woong said he was surprised by the warm reaction. Who is Kim? Keep reading…)

End of story.

Not a fan of anyone who writes like he is a professional wrestler. “End of story” my ass.

– Any direct contact between North Korea and the U.S. is by definition desirable. Not if it makes things worse for the North Koreans — and it may.

Once again, not much in the way of evidence for this. Teacher’s big proof of this assertion was a quote by Kim Cheol-woong, a NK musician who defected in 2001.

Kim Cheol-woong, a musician who defected from Pyongyang to the West in 2001, warned the Journal’s Melanie Kirkpatrick that “there will be educational sessions . . . [on] the triumph of Kim Jong Il’s political leadership, which resulted in the fact that even the American artistic group is coming to knock their foreheads on the floor in front of General Kim.”

Yeah, well, Kim has also been cited (in Reuters and elsewhere) as saying the concert had the potential to could help change hearts and minds. Here is his Yonhap quote:

“Watching North Koreans listen to the U.S. national anthem courteously, on their feet, I felt the mood of respecting each other. The New York Phil performance will likely serve as a stepping stone for improving relations between North Korea and the U.S.”

Oops. Apparently Kim’s opinions are a little more nuanced and ambivalent (if not positive) than Teacher realized.

Back to Teacher’s article:

– Even if only a handful of North Korean musicians heard the concert and found it inspiring, it was worth giving. Really? Are musicians more important than “ordinary” North Koreans?

The concert was broadcast live on NK radio and TV, so more than a handful of NKs heard it.

And I do not see how this makes musicians “more important” than ordinary North Koreans. Classical music concerts tend to be disproportionately attended by the upper class just about everywhere. Not a lot of “ordinary” citizens in the average concert hall. But NK is such a shuttered society, any time you have people coming into contact with foreigners (especially Americans) and seeing that they do not have horns and are normal, you are striking a blow against NK propaganda (as Andrei Lankov likes to say).

– People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.

Ah, the bogeyman that is moral relativism. Of course the United States is not North Korea. There are few states (if any) that are on North Korea’s level.

I do not see how this is a mistaken idea about the NK concert. If Maazel has a problem with the US justice system, that really has little to do with whether or not it is okay to hold a concert in North Korea.

But if it is okay to do business with China, Russia, and a whole host of “bad” countries, is any dealing with NK beyond the pale? Where is the line? Is it impossible to think that the benefits of openness might outweigh the negatives of going to a repressive state?

(Btw, maybe, just maybe, the US (like all democratic countries) should aspire a higher moral standard than NK? When the US falls short of its ideals and has problems, it is a much bigger deal than when an oppressive dictatorship does far worse.)

– Great art can change the world.

Myeh. A pretty wishy-washy complaint. Does anyone really expect a story or song or painting to change large political systems? Anyone out of high school, at any rate…

On the other hand, art does change the world… but not in some kind of simplistic, one-to-one, cause-effect way. For example, learning art and music and the like change the way you think, the physical hardwiring of the brain (just as reading and writing do).

More to the point, Western classical musicians going to the Soviet Union in the 1950s and later did matter. Even though the Soviet Union kept chugging along for years, those concerts did matter, they changed the way people thought about the state and its enemies, they helped to undermine the legitimacy of the system.

Irene Breslau, a member of the Philharmonic’s viola section, got it right on the nose: “I’ve had a lot of moral reservations based on wondering what a concert for the elite is going to do to help the people starving in the street,”

Could say the same thing about any classical concert in almost any major city in the world.

Anyhow, I have spent far longer on this rebuttal than I intended. My basic point is, a lot of people have gotten hot and bothered about that NY Philharmonic Orchestra concert. And most of those complainers are approaching this issue with more self-righteousness and heavy-handed ideology than brains, nuance or practicality.

The truth is, cultural exchanges do not matter a whole lot when it comes to fixing the North Korean problem. There are far larger forces at work. But when dealing with a closed society that depends on isolation to maintain its legitimacy, outside contacts have the potential to help break down the isolation, if only a little.

Rockin’ in the Not-So-Free World

The New York Philharmonic Orchestra played in Pyongyang this evening. Amazingly, this did not cause free nations around the region to fall thanks to the “propaganda coup” the show provided Kim Jong-il.


But the show was broadcast live on North Korea’s television and radio, and it was the first time an American orchestra had played in North Korea. The Philharmonic played Dvorak’s “New World” Symphony, Bernstein’s overture to “Candide,” some Wagner and Arirang.

Most telling about the logic behind the concert were conductor Loren Maazel’s quotes about the Boston Symphony performance in the Soviet Union in 1956 and the New York Philharmonic’s show there in 1959:

It showed Soviet citizens that they could have relations with foreign organizations and these organizations could come in the country freely. But what the Soviets didn’t realize was, this was a two-edged sword.

And:

By allowing interactions between people from outside the country with people inside, eventually the people found themselves out of power.

Sure, he then played down the comparisons to North Korea today (must be a polite guest), but the parallels were clear.

Andrei Lankov expressed the same logic when I talked to him about the concert last year (as I wrote about here).

Anyhow, I am sure we will all wake up tomorrow and find North Korea to be the same as ever. But I hope the event will in some small way help change a few minds, if only a little bit.

(Note: I “borrowed” that pic from the New York Times website. Credit to Chang Lee, with thanks).

Naxos of Evil

Since the possibility of the New York Philharmonic playing in North Korea is in the news again, here are a few more artistic exchanges happening with North Korea:

  • North Korea’s State Orchestra is going to play the UK for 10 days in September 2008. Interesting backstory. The Orchestra will tour thanks to an invitation by Suzannah Clarke, a soprano who has performed in North Korea since 2003. She was invited in part because she is from Middlesbrough, the city that hosted the North Korean soccer team during the World Cup of 1966. In 2002, of course, was when Daniel Gordon’s documentary THE GAME OF THEIR LIVES, about North Korea’s improbable World Cup run in 1966.
  • Guitarist Jason Carter played in Pyongyang earlier this year (thanks to Philip for the fun entry and all the other good stuff he does). Carter wrote all about his trip in a long blog entry. It is quite a Kool-Aid-drink, but still quite interesting. You can even listen to an MP3 of him playing THE SOUND OF SILENCE in Pyongyang.
  • In August there was an art exhibition of North Korean works in London’s West End. Amusingly (or interestingly, depending on your levels of cynicism and irony) the curator met a North Korean artist in Zambabwe in 2001, which is how the whole thing got started.
  • Of course, any planning with North Korea is always pretty dicey. Remember how the Rock for Peace concert in NK turned out.
  • What does it all mean? Heck if I know. But I suspect Andrei Lankov is right, that any and all exchanges mean that more people in North Korea are being exposed to the truth, and truth will inevitably chip away at the regime up there. Sunlight is the best disinfectant, as the saying goes.
  • Too Lazy to Organize My Thoughts,aka, Random Notes – Vol 2, No. 4

    There were a couple of good stories in the Chosun Ilbo today (believe it or not, it does happen).

  • “How to Spot the Real Crowd-Pleaser Movies” is a look at how much staying power Korean movies had last year. Calling it the “grapevine index,” the writer divides each film’s total attendance by its opening weekend attendance. The idea being, the more genuinely popular a film is, the most people will talk about it and get their friends to attend. If a film’s popularity is just marketing driven, and the movie itself actually stinks, people will tell their friends to avoid it and it will soon be out of the theaters.

    Grapevine Index of Top Film of 2006
    1. Radio Star – 10.6
    2. 200 Pound Beauty – 8.06
    3. Tazza – 7.28
    4. The Host – 6.42

    Worst Film of 2006
    1. Running Wild – 1.7
    2. I’m a Cyborg, But That’s Okay – 1.96
    3. Bewitching Attraction – 2.1
    4. Daisy – 2.14

    I was quite surprised RADIO STAR did so well, especially considering all the competition in the period it came out. And BEWITCHING ATTRACTION seems to be more a victim of a misleading ad campaign than its inherent quality. Otherwise, the chart seems unsurprising, if interesting.

  • The other interesting story is this one, claiming that South Korean entertainment is getting into North Korea:

    According to a survey of 30 North Korean defectors who settled in South Korea, popular songs and dramas from the South are not only all the rage in Pyongyang; they have also found their way to border regions like Kaesong, Nampo and North Hamgyeong Province. South Korean actors like Bae Yong-joon and Jang Dong-gun have many fans there. North Koreans buy South Korean videotapes and CDs from people who frequently travel across the Chinese border, the survey shows.

  • Dramas ruled the TV airwaves in 2006, led by JUMONG. In fact, all top-10 programs on free-to-air TV last year were dramas. KBS’s 9 o’clock news only managed 19th.
  • R-O-C-K in the D-P-R-K

    Are you ready to rock? I said, are you ready to rock!? Then get your butt over to Pyongyang. Yes, North Korea is presenting ROCK FOR PEACE, a rock music festival running May 1-4, 2007. According to the site, the festival will be “the 2007 version of Woodstock rock festival in 1969”. Just like Woodstock, “but in different location and in different goals.” So far, 41 bands from 19 countries have already applied.

    All are welcome to come (“including heavy metal”), with a couple of small caveats:

    The lyrics should not contain admirations on war, sex, violence, murder, drug, rape, non-governmental society, imperialism, colonialism, racism, anti-DPRK, and anti-socialism.

    As long as we are on the subject of North Korean music, you can check out a North Korean music chart here. Latoya Jackson? Old Lesbians of Choson? Scissor Sisters? I am assuming this whole site is some kind of a joke… but who knows? I have been wrong about bigger things. Other quality posts include: American film festival, pederast Mark Foley, and more Latoya Jackson. I rather like the Pyongyang T-Shirt controversy, too.

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