Philharmonic Invited to Perform in North Korea
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The New York Philharmonic has been invited to play somewhere the famed orchestra has never been — North Korea.
The orchestra recently received a letter on behalf of that country’s Ministry of Culture, issuing an invitation to play in Pyongyang, the capital city.
“We had not been expecting an invitation,” an orchestra spokesman, Eric Latzky, said today.
The orchestra has played in South Korea, as well as in other parts of Asia, but Mr. Latzky said there would be no trip to North Korea “without the full cooperation of the American government.”
The Treasury Department said today that American sanctions against North Korea do not impose a travel ban.
And State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said that Philharmonic officials would likely be free to decide if they wanted to play there.
“I think it would be fully up to them, whether or not they accept such an invitation,” he told reporters.
Asked whether it would help relations, Mr. McCormack said the focus of American efforts was on nuclear disarmament talks. He added: “I’m not sure whether or not your average North Korean gets an invitation if the New York Philharmonic is in Pyongyang.”
Mr. Latzky said the invitation did not have a specific time frame, and that the orchestra had not really explored the idea yet but would look into the possibility.
America and North Korea have had tense relations over North Korea’s moves toward nuclear capability. However, tensions have recently shown signs of lessening, and the two countries are planning to meet soon to discuss normalizing the relationship.
