North Korean Leader Attends K-Pop Concert in Pyongyang

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un meets South Korean K-pop singers in this photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang April 2, 2018. (Reuters)
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un meets South Korean K-pop singers in this photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang April 2, 2018. (Reuters)
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North Korean Leader Attends K-Pop Concert in Pyongyang

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un meets South Korean K-pop singers in this photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang April 2, 2018. (Reuters)
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un meets South Korean K-pop singers in this photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang April 2, 2018. (Reuters)

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attended in Pyongyang on Sunday a South Korean K-pop concert, the first in more than a decade as tensions between the old rivals thaw.

It was the first time a North Korean leader had attended a South Korean performance in the North’s capital. Kim was seen clapping in tune to some of the songs and took photographs with the performers after the show.

He attended the event with his wife, Ri Sol Ju.

"He said that he was deeply moved to see our people sincerely acclaiming the performance, deepening the understanding of the popular art of the South's side," the North’s KCNA state media said.

Kim, the first North Korean leader ever to attend a show by entertainers from the South, shook hands with the performers and "expressed his deep thanks to them," KCNA reported.

The North Korean audience clapped, cheered, sang along to some of the songs and later presented the South Korean performers with bouquets.

“(Kim Jong Un) showed much interest during the show and asked questions about the songs and lyrics,” Culture Minister Do Jong-whan told reporters after the show.

The visit by the South's entertainers, seen as part of a cultural charm offensive by Seoul, comes as a diplomatic thaw gathers pace on the peninsula ahead of a landmark inter-Korean summit later this month.

The 120-member South Korean group -- 11 musical acts as well as dancers, technicians and martial artists -- gave one concert on Sunday with another set for Tuesday.

Sunday’s concert was held under the title “Spring is Coming” at the East Pyongyang Grand Theater, performed by an elite lineup of South Korean artists including veteran vocalists Cho Yong-pil, Lee Sun-hee, rock star Yoon Do-hyun and singer Baek Ji-young, as well as K-pop girl band Red Velvet.

Kim and his wife were seen clapping their hands during the two-hour Sunday event, which was also attended by Kim's younger sister, Kim Yo Jong, and the North's ceremonial head of state Kim Yong Nam.

The concert ended with a standing ovation by the packed audience after a finale featuring all the stars singing a song about unification.

One of the most closely watched acts was Red Velvet, part of the South's hugely popular K-pop phenomenon that has taken audiences in Asia and beyond by storm.

Even leader Kim acknowledged that there had been "so much interest in whether I'd come to see Red Velvet or not".

The five-member girlband -- known for its signature K-pop mix of upbeat electronic music and high-voltage choreography -- performed two of their hits, "Bad Boy" and "Red Flavor".

"The North's audience applauded our performance much louder than we expected and even sang along to our songs... it was a big relief," band member Yeri told reporters.

The North Korean leader’s face was slightly flushed in a group photograph with the performers distributed by North Korean state media. He was seen in another directly addressing members of Red Velvet, which commands more than 4.6 million followers on Instagram.

North Korean staff were spotted outside the performers’ dressing rooms using Japan-made electronic devices to serve coffee and cupcakes, including Western Lavazza and Coffee-mate products, according to a South Korean media pool report.

Seohyun, an actress and vocalist with South Korean girl group Girls’ Generation, sang a North Korean pop song called “Blue Willow Tree”. She had performed with the North’s Samjiyon Orchestra in Seoul in February.

Cho Yong-pil, 68, sang a string of hits including “The Cafe in the Winter”, “Short Hair” and “Let’s Go on a Trip”. Cho staged a solo concert in Pyongyang in 2005 - the last concert by a South Korean artist in the North before Sunday’s performance.

Sunday’s performance coincided with the start of annual joint South Korean-US military drills, which have previously been met with denunciations and missile launches by the North, and were delayed and shortened this year in order not to overshadow the Olympic detente.

The recent thaw in relations, which could even lead to a summit between Kim and US President Donald Trump in May, follows months of increased tensions after North Korea conducted missile launches and a nuclear test last year in defiance of United Nations Security Council sanctions.

Sunday’s two-hour concert in Pyongyang, along with a separate taekwondo performance earlier in the day, came as South Korea’s engagement with North Korea has grown since Kim expressed his willingness for more contact between the two countries.

Athletes from North and South Korea marched under a unified peninsula flag at the opening ceremony at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in February. The significant thaw in the inter-Korean relations has led them to set a date for their first summit in more than a decade on April 27.

The two Koreas are technically still at war after the 1950-1953 conflict ended with a ceasefire rather than a peace agreement.

In addition to the concert, a team of South Korean taekwondo demonstrators performed on Sunday at the Pyongyang Taekwondo Hall, drawing more than 2,300 North Koreans, including Choe Hwi, chairman of the National Sports Guidance Committee.

The same South Korean singers will hold a joint concert with North Korean performers on Tuesday at the Ryukyung Chung Ju Yung Gymnasium, a joint project between the North and South named after Hyundai Group billionaire founder Chung Ju-yung, who had long advocated inter-Korean cultural and economic exchanges.

Kim had been planning to attend the Tuesday performance but decided to watch Sunday’s show due to “political schedules”, KCNA and South Korean officials there said.



Trump Cuts Short Talks with Zelenskyy after Oval Office Blow Up

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (L) talks with US President Donald Trump (C) and US Vice President JD Vance (R) in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 28 February 2025. EPA/JIM LO SCALZO / POOL
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (L) talks with US President Donald Trump (C) and US Vice President JD Vance (R) in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 28 February 2025. EPA/JIM LO SCALZO / POOL
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Trump Cuts Short Talks with Zelenskyy after Oval Office Blow Up

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (L) talks with US President Donald Trump (C) and US Vice President JD Vance (R) in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 28 February 2025. EPA/JIM LO SCALZO / POOL
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (L) talks with US President Donald Trump (C) and US Vice President JD Vance (R) in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 28 February 2025. EPA/JIM LO SCALZO / POOL

President Donald Trump shouted at Ukraine's leader on Friday during an extraordinary meeting in the Oval Office, berating President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for “gambling with millions of lives” and suggesting his actions could trigger World War III.
Zelenskyy then abruptly left the White House without signing a critical minerals deal with the US that Trump had demanded and suggested was a condition for future support for Ukraine.
Untouched salad plates and other lunch items were being packed up outside the Cabinet room where the lunch between Trump and Zelenskyy and their delegations was supposed to have taken place, The Associated Press reported
The last 10 minutes of the nearly 45-minute engagement devolved into a tense back and forth between Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Zelenskyy — who had urged skepticism about Russia’s commitment to diplomacy, citing Moscow’s years of broken commitments on the global stage.
It began with Vance telling Zelenskyy, “Mr. President, with respect. I think it’s disrespectful for you to come to the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media.”
Zelenskyy tried to object, prompting Trump to raise his voice and say, “You’re gambling with the lives of millions of people.”
“You’re gambling with World War III, and what you’re doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country that’s backed you far more than a lot of people say they should have,” Trump said.
It was an astonishing display of open antagonism in the Oval Office, a setting better known for somber diplomacy. Trump laid bare his efforts to coerce Zelenskyy to agree to giving the US an interest in his country’s valuable minerals and to push him toward a diplomatic resolution to the war on the American leader’s terms.
Earlier in the meeting Trump said the US would continue to provide military assistance to Ukraine, but said he hoped that not too much aid would be forthcoming. “We’re not looking forward to sending a lot of arms,” Trump said. “We’re looking forward to getting the war finished so we can do other things.”
Trump suggested that Zelenskyy wasn't in a position to be demanding concessions.
"You’re not in a good position. You don’t have the cards right now,” Trump said pointing his finger toward Zelenskyy. “With us you start having cards.”
He also accused Zelenskyy of being “disrespectful” to the US.
“It’s going to be a very hard thing to do business like this,” Trump told Zelenskyy at one point, as the two leaders talked over each other about past international support for Ukraine.
“Again, just say thank you,” Vance interjected to Zelenskyy, blasting him for litigating “disagreements” in front of the press. Trump, though, suggested he was fine with the drama. “I think it’s good for the American people to see what’s going on,” he added.
“You're not acting at all thankful,” Trump said, before adding, “This is going to be great television.”
The harsh words came at a pivotal and precarious moment for Ukraine. Zelenskyy had planned to try to convince the White House to provide some form of US backing for Ukraine's security against any future Russian aggression.
Zelenskyy had been expected to sign a landmark economic agreement with the US aimed at financing the reconstruction of war-damaged Ukraine, a deal that would closely tie the two countries together for years to come.
The deal, which is seen as a step toward ending the three-year war, referenced the importance of Ukraine’s security. Earlier in the meeting, before tempers flared, Trump said the agreement would be signed soon in the East Room of the White House.
“We have something that is a very fair deal,” Trump said, adding, “It is a big commitment from the United States.”
He said the US wants to see the killing in the war stopped, adding that US money for Ukraine should be "put to different kinds of use like rebuilding.”
Earlier, Zelenskyy called Russian President Vladimir Putin a terrorist and told Trump that Ukraine and the world need “no compromises with a killer.”
“Even during the war there are rules,” he said.
As Ukrainian forces hold out against slow but steady advances by Russia’s larger and better-equipped army, leaders in Kyiv have pushed to ensure a potential US-brokered peace plan would include guarantees for the country’s future security.
Many Ukrainians fear that a hastily negotiated peace — especially one that makes too many concessions to Russian demands — would allow Moscow to rearm and consolidate its forces for a future invasion after current hostilities cease.
According to the preliminary economic agreement, seen by The Associated Press, the US and Ukraine will establish a co-owned, jointly managed investment fund to which Ukraine will contribute 50% of future revenues from natural resources, including minerals, hydrocarbons and other extractable materials.