South Korea Worries Over Rising Threat From North

A staff member at the National Theatre, where the band was to give the invitation-only performances, confirmed the concerts were off, but did not give a reason.

However, the band boarded an Air Koryo flight at around 4 p.m. that day to return to Pyongyang before they could even open their first show.

China has traditionally been North Korea’s sole regional ally and main provider of trade and aid, but ties have become strained in recent years as Pyongyang has pressed ahead with internationally condemned nuclear tests.

Last week it seemed possible that North Korea was ready for the first time under Kim Jong-un to reach out in parallel to its closest neighbors, South Korea and China.

The Communist Party of China’s International Liaison Department, which invited Moranbong, deleted photos on its website of its director, Song Tao, shaking hands with North Korean Workers Party secretary Choe Hui, who accompanied the performers and abridged related text.

The band, known for its 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 North Korea’s young leader Kim.

They are a regular fixture on North Korean TV screens and Kim has also attended its concerts many times.

Performers of North Korean Moranbong band arrived at National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing.

To explain the abrupt change of plans, China’s state-run broadcasting network Xinhua News reported that the cancellation was due to communication problems. In October, high-ranking Chinese official Liu Yunshan visited Pyongyang, and this visit by the Moranbong Band was widely publicized in the Chinese press. Ties between the sides have been noticeably cooler since Kim assumed power in 2011.

Chinese analysts who spoke to Yonhap agreed the Moranbong cancellation would have little influence on bilateral relations, but Yang Xiyu, director of the Foreign Ministry’s Korean Peninsula affairs office, said the leaders of China and North Korea still need to meet, and that it is hard to ascertain when that could take place. However, Kim’s unwillingness to visit China and his government’s refusal to restart denuclearization talks have frustrated the Chinese leadership. Although the demarcation between the phases was ambiguous in the speech, the Park administration is reportedly insisting that the price for large-scale economic cooperation such as Mount Kumgang’s re-opening is North Korea’s renewed commitment to denuclearization.