Kim Jong-un ‘Watches K-pop Stars Perform In North’
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his wife have watched South Korean K-pop stars perform in Pyongyang, South Korea’s culture ministry says.
It is the first musical delegation to visit in more than a decade as the two countries on the divided peninsula prepare for a rare summit.
More than 11 acts are in Pyongyang for two shows, reports BBC.
The North sent performers to the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in South Korea earlier this year.
The exchanges come amid thawing relations between the Koreas after months of tension.
The concert took place on Sunday evening local time at the East Pyongyang Grand Theatre, said South Korean media, with another set to follow on Tuesday. The delegation mixes K-pop, rock and other genres.
The North Korean leader’s sister Kim Yo-jong and the country’s nominal head of state Kim Yong-nam are also said to have attended the performance.
Kim has agreed to hold summits with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and US President Donald Trump.
He met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing last week during his first overseas trip.
The third inter-Korean summit – there were also meetings in 2000 and 2007 – is due to be held on 27 April. No date has been set for the US-North Korean summit.
Meanwhile, the US and South Korea have begun their annual military drills, which have been scaled down compared with previous years as both countries prepare for talks with North Korea.
Although nearly 300,000 South Korean troops and 24,000 American troops will take part, the drill will be a month shorter than usual and will not involve nuclear submarines.
In the past, the drills have infuriated North Korea but correspondents say that this time Pyongyang is keeping relatively quiet. Kim reportedly told visiting South Korean officials that he understood that the exercises had to go ahead.
