South and North, can they sing together? (The image of JSA, courtesy of Yonhap)
The proposed concert is aimed at gathering musicians from the two Koreas to the border town, the last remaining vestige of the Cold War, to jointly celebrate the 70th anniversary of the liberation from the Japanese 1910-45 colonial rule.
If the North Korea refuses our offer, we plan to host a peace concert in front a JSA check point with musicians from the South. we have been working to form a 70-member orchestra, which will be led by German maestro Christoph Poppen.
by Lindenbaum Music Company
SEOUL, South Korea, Jul. 7 (Korea Bizwire) – Seoul-based Lindenbaum Music Company said Monday it will push for a joint orchestra concert with North Korea in the heavily-guarded truce village Panmunjom next month in hopes of delivering messages of peace through music.
The United Nations Command, the Neutral National Supervisory Commission and the Ministry of National Defense gave an approval for the concert to be held at the Joint Security Area in Panmunjom on Aug. 15, on the condition of North Korea’s endorsement.
Uwe Schmelter, the former head of Goethe-Institute in Seoul, has been mediating communications with North Korea via the North Korean embassy in Berlin, the firm said, without elaborating on details.
The two Koreas remain technically at war since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. Contact with North Koreans or visits to the communist neighbor without government approval are banned under the South Korean security law.
(Yonhap)
