Diplomatic discord: Kim Jong-un’s pop band comes home

But other reasons have also been circulating, including talk that China chose to send a lower-ranking delegation to the concert in protest over Mr Kim’s claim last week that the North has a hydrogen bomb, excessive media attention given to Ms Hyon, and rumours that a band member had reportedly gone missing while in Beijing.

Members of the Moranbong band unexpectedly turned up at Beijing’s main airport just hours before their first concert and flew back to Pyongyang.

Sporting short sequined dresses and fashionable hair styles that are a world apart from the usual fashion favored by North Korean women, the Moranbong singers’ repertoire is heavy on odes to Kim Jong Un’s greatness with stirring ultranationalist messages.

Meanwhile, China’s state-run news agency Xinhua reported that the unexpected cancellation was due to “communication issues” but did not further elaborate, and the North has so far kept mum on the issue as well.

Pictures obtained by Reuters showed the band leaving their hotel in Beijing around noon on Saturday, with their baggage. Chinese state media said they were due to give three concerts in Beijing. 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. Its visit was seen as an indication of improving relations between China and its isolated neighbour.

Relations between North Korea and China, once famously described as “as close as lips and teeth”, have markedly deteriorated since Kim Jong Un took power at the end of 2011 and conducted a nuclear test a few months later.

The band, formed in 2012 and apparently handpicked by Kim Jong-un, is composed of svelte women who can sing, dance and perform electric and classical instruments. The all-female group was to perform for selected state officials (their core fanbase) alongside North Korea’s State Merited Chorus.

Through the two incidents, both Seoul and Beijing have sent “a powerful signal that North Korea’s alternatives to a return to denuclearization diplomacy are limited and costly to the North”, Snyder said in an article in the publication National Interest. Pyongyang’s Korean Central New Agency had previously said that the concerts would contribute to “deepening friendship” between China and North Korea. Ultimately, it all depends on what “gifts” North Korea will present to China.

In a brief notice posted on the Chinese theater’s website, the theater confirmed the cancellation of the performances by the North Korean band, expressing “deep regret” over the cancellation.