Kim Jong-un mingles with K-pop stars in overture to Seoul

Bloomberg

North Korea has threatened to go to war over broadcasts across its militarised border that included the K-pop songs of South Korean bands like Red Velvet. Kim Jong-un was clapping along and posing for pictures with the music group.
Kim’s surprise appearance at a rare pop concert in Pyongyang was the North Korean leader’s latest diplomatic overture as he prepares for an unprecedented potential meeting with US President Donald Trump next month. Kim first plans to hold a rare summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who has pursued reconciliation with North Korea to avert war over the regime’s nuclear weapons program.
After listening to the band belt out dance tunes including “Red Flavor” and “Bad Boy” to about 1,500 members of the North Korean elite at the East Pyongyang Grand Theater, Kim called for a similar performance in Seoul later this year. “I understand people were curious to see if I would come to see Red Velvet’s performance,” Kim said, calling the sh-ow a “present” to North Korea’s citizens.
After a similar attempt at K-pop diplomacy received a frosty reception 15 years ago, Red Velvet’s members expressed surprise at the welcome they received from the North Korean spectators, who waved their hands and sang along to the songs. South Korea has in recent years added K-pop to its propaganda broadcasts across the demilitarised zone, a practice that has prompted threats of military action by North Korea.
CHINA TRIP
Kim’s appearance comes a week after he shook up the Asian diplomatic landscape with an unexpected trip to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing — his first overseas trip since taking power in 2011. The planned inter-Korean summit with Moon on April 27 is expected to pave the way for a similar meeting with Trump, who wants Kim to abandon his nuclear weapons.
“It’s a message appealing to appeasement by the South Koreans,” said Shin Beomchul, a professor at Korea National Diplomatic Academy in Seoul and a former director general for policy planning at the foreign ministry. “By showing South Korea that the North is sincere — when it comes to inter-Korean relations at least — it eventually aims to build a more favourable environment to get out of the difficulties it faces when Kim meets with Moon and Trump, respectively.”
The concert was held on the same day as US and South Korea launched mass military drills that North Korea views as a rehearsal for war. Official North Korean media had said nothing about the exercises as of Monday afternoon, in contrast with threats of military retaliation in past years. Kim met with Red Velvet and other South Korean performers after the show, shaking hands with them and expressing his “deep thanks,” according to the official Korean Central News Agency.