The DMZ Peace Concert will open at Dorasan Station, just south of the border with North Korea, in the evening with the theme “Culture Connects.” (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Sept. 9 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea will hold a concert along the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) on Monday in celebration of the first anniversary of the Joint Pyongyang Declaration, adopted by the leaders of the two Koreas.
The DMZ Peace Concert will open at Dorasan Station, just south of the border with North Korea, in the evening with the theme “Culture Connects.”
It will bring together musicians from many different genres for a joint performance and will be attended by the South Korean ministers of culture, foreign affairs and unification.
On Sept. 19 last year, President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un signed the declaration in the North Korean capital in recognition of their joint determination to end military hostility across the border and to boost cooperation.
Seoul has since ratcheted up efforts to transform the DMZ and surrounding areas into a symbol of peace by adopting an array of cultural projects, including the opening of some of the trails along the southern side of the DMZ to the public.
The concert lineup includes Chinese-American cellist Yo-Yo Ma; prominent Korean traditional drummer and performer Kim Deok-su; Ahn Sook-sun, master singer of the Korean traditional solo opera “pansori;” and female K-pop duo Rooftop Moonlight, according to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
The two-hour concert will feature traditional Korean dances from both the South and the North, Yo-Yo Ma’s unaccompanied cello performance, children’s songs from the era before the division of the two Koreas and a piano performance by Kim Cheol-woong, a North Korean pianist who defected to South Korea.
North Korean defectors, Korean War veterans, South Korean and American soldiers stationed near the border, and South Korean civilians whose hometowns are in the North have been invited to the show, according to the ministry.
(Yonhap)
