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Ready for NK-pop? North Korean girl band hits China

December 10, 2015
Moranbong band, North Korean girl group

Clad in military-style overcoats and fur hats, the Moranbong Band was seen arriving at the Beijing railway station earlier in the day amid tight security.

BEIJING (Yonhap) — North Korea’s all-female propaganda band, hand-picked by the North’s young leader Kim Jong-un, arrived in Beijing Thursday for a six-day “friendship” performance, in an apparent move that indicates that once-strained ties between the allies are warming again.

Clad in military-style overcoats and fur hats, the Moranbong Band was seen arriving at the Beijing railway station earlier in the day amid tight security.

The 20-member girl group and scores of members of the State Merited Chorus, a North Korean military orchestra, headed for a luxury hotel in central Beijing.

Members of Moranbong Band, North Korea's all-female troupe, arrive at a hotel in Beijing on Dec. 10, 2015, for what will be their first performance in a foreign country. (Yonhap)

Members of Moranbong Band, North Korea’s all-female troupe, arrive at a hotel in Beijing on Dec. 10, 2015, for what will be their first performance in a foreign country. (Yonhap)

Members of the Moranbong Band were seen eating lunch at the Minzu Hotel, and a member was asked about how she felt about the first performance overseas. The member, who would not give her name, replied, “I appreciate the generous hospitality (of the Chinese).”

“Please come to see our performance,” another member replied with a smile.

The band, known for their interpretive performances of the totalitarian state’s propaganda songs and Western pop music, including the “Theme from Rocky,” was formed in 2012 following an order by Kim.

They will perform for three days at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing starting Saturday, marking their first performance in a foreign country.

Their “friendship performances,” described by North Korea’s state media, are the latest sign that Pyongyang is trying to mend ties with Beijing after years of strain following the North’s third nuclear test in early 2013.

Since Liu Yunshan, the Chinese Communist Party’s fifth-ranked official, visited Pyongyang in October and held talks with North Korean leader Kim, there have been signs of improvement in bilateral ties.

Wang Junsheng, an associate professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that North Korea is sending a message of improving ties with China through the Moranbong Band’s performances in Beijing.

Members of the Moranbong Band and the State Merited Chorus of North Korea walk to get on a train at the station in Pyongyang, North Korea, Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2015. They give friendship performances in China. (AP Photo/Kim Kwang Hyon)

Members of the Moranbong Band and the State Merited Chorus of North Korea walk to get on a train at the station in Pyongyang, North Korea, Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2015. They give friendship performances in China. (AP Photo/Kim Kwang Hyon)

“The Moranbong Band is seen performing. In fact, it sends a signal that North Korea wants to improve relations with China,” Wang told Yonhap News Agency by telephone.

“China and North Korea, which are not satisfied with the current impasse, are trying to find a way to try to improve bilateral relations,” Wang said.

China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Wednesday that the North Korean band’s visit to China would help the allies deepen mutual understanding and friendship.

“North Korea is our close neighbor, and we continue to develop our bilateral ties,” Hua said. “We believe such people-to-people exchanges in various forms are conducive to our mutual understanding and friendship.”