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.
