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The Philharmonic plans to perform on Tuesday evening at a theater in Pyongyang, marking the biggest cultural exchange between North Korea and the United States since they fought each other during the 1950-53 Korean War.
The concert is scheduled to open with the U.S. and North Korean national anthems. The programs also include Antonin Dvorak's ninth symphony, "From the New World" and George Gershwin's "An American in Paris" that includes elements of jazz banned in the communist country.
North Korea has expressed hope that the cultural event would help lead to a thaw in relations between Washington and Pyongyang which are struggling to resolve a protracted standoff over the North's nuclear weapons.
Pyongyang's state media carried its first reports on Friday of the planned concert. "The New York Philharmonic will soon visit Pyongyang at the invitation of the DPRK Ministry of Culture and the Korean Association for Art Exchange," the North's Korean Central News Agency said. The DPRK refers to North Korea's official name, Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
"It will give its performance at the East Pyongyang Grand Theater during the visit," the official mouthpiece said. A radio station aimed at domestic listeners also reported the scheduled concert.
North Korea has agreed to a live national broadcast of the concert to allow its citizens to watch the performance, an unprecedented measure in the country that has long campaigned to prevent an influx of foreign culture, warning its people against the "Trojan horse" of capitalism.
Pyongyang has also permitted the Philharmonic to perform the U.S. national anthem, which means "The Star-Spangled Banner" will be heard by North Koreans who have long been educated to consider the United States as "imperialists to be crushed."
O Kyung Ah, a North Korean music student in Pyongyang, said she would watch the performance, but expressed hatred against Washington. "The United States invaded our Republic, and we are still facing its pressure and threats," she was quoted as saying by Seoul's cable news network YTN.
Earlier, North Korea's ambassador to the United Nations, Pak Gil Yon, described the concert as "an important and significant occasion in the history of relations," saying the event would "surely deepen" mutual understanding. "We wholeheartedly welcome the Pyongyang performance by the New York Philharmonic," he said, noting his country invited the world-renowned philharmonic to promote friendly relations between the two countries.
North Korea invited the philharmonic in August last year when the multilateral talks made progress in breaking the nuclear impasse. But doubts are now mounting about the North's denuclearization process after Pyongyang failed to meet a Dec. 31 deadline to give a complete accounting of its nuclear programs.
Analysts and government officials in Seoul said the overture of cultural diplomacy could build mutual confidence between Pyongyang and Washington, paving the way for the resolution of the nuclear standoff and eventually normalization of diplomatic relations. The concert "would signal that North Korea is beginning to come out of its shell, which everyone understands is a long-term process," Washington's chief nuclear envoy Christopher Hill told reporters.
Analysts compare the U.S. music concert in Pyongyang with the exchange of ping-pong teams by the United States and China in the early 1970s, which helped smooth the way for diplomatic relations later in the decade. In 1956, the Boston Symphony became the first American orchestra to perform in the Soviet Union.
"Cultural and sports events have often served as a good occasion to improve political relations between Cold War foes," said Paik Hak-soon, a North Korea specialist at Seoul's private Sejong Institute. "North Korea seems to be expanding its cultural outreach to the West," he said.
Last September, North Korea's taekwondo demonstration team made its first-ever visit to the United States. The North's top circus and magic team are pushing for a performance in the United States this year, according to Seoul's Yonhap News Agency. The North also plans to send its State Symphony Orchestra to a British music festival this September in line with Pyongyang's growing appetite for cultural diplomacy.
