NY Philharmonic will go to North Korea
by Richardson ~ December 10th, 2007. Filed under: Diplomacy, Engagement, North Korea, U.S.-Korea Relations.The importance of the New York Philharmonic trip to Pyongyang is being vastly overstated. It will only add a feather to Kim Jong-il’s bouffant, and give the North Korean elite a treat, but nothing else:
The trip, at the invitation of North Korea, will be the first significant cultural visit by Americans to that country, and it comes as the United States is offering the possibility of warmer ties with a country that President Bush once consigned to the “axis of evil.”
“We haven’t even had Ping-Pong diplomacy with these people,” said Ambassador Christopher R. Hill. . .
Just last week Mr. Bush sent a letter* to Kim Jong-il, North Korea’s leader, suggesting that ties would improve if North Korea fully disclosed all nuclear programs and got rid of its nuclear weapons.
[. . .]
The Philharmonic’s trip, which has generated some controversy among orchestra musicians and commentators, will follow a venerable line of groundbreaking orchestra tours that have played a role in diplomacy, the most famous one, perhaps, taking place in 1973, when the Philadelphia Orchestra traveled to China soon after President Nixon’s historic visit and amid what came to be known as Ping-Pong diplomacy.
[. . .]
Once the orchestra members had given their approval, the major stumbling block became transportation. The orchestra, staff members and journalists are expected to number about 250. A plane that can also carry the many large instruments had to be found.
[. . .]
The concert is planned for Feb. 26 at the end of a previously planned tour in China. The orchestra is expected to stay in Pyongyang for two nights, with some teaching and a ceremonial dinner thrown in.
Some questions have been raised about the appropriateness of visiting a country run by one of the world’s most repressive governments. North Korea’s policies have been blamed in part for the famine-related starvation of perhaps two million people and it confines hundreds of thousands of people in labor camps.
If the orchestra goes to Pyongyang, “it will be doing little more than participating in a puppet show whose purpose is to lend legitimacy to a despicable regime,” Terry Teachout, an arts critic and blogger, wrote on the online opinion pages of The Wall Street Journal in late October.
Richard V. Allen, a national security adviser to President Ronald Reagan, and Chuck Downs — both board members of the United States Committee for Human Rights in North Korea — made a similar point on Oct. 28 on the Op-Ed page of The New York Times. “It would be a mistake to hand Kim Jong-il a propaganda coup,” they wrote.
Mr. Hill acknowledged that “in a very theoretical way” any kind of opening lends legitimacy to the North Korean government. “But not opening up has not had any positive effect in bringing North Korea out of its shell,” he said.
*According to reports on C-SPAN Radio, President Bush sent letters to all of the other members of the Six-Party Talks, not just North Korea, emphasizing the progress made and noting the importance of a full and accurate nuclear declaration on by North Korea.
December 10th, 2007 at 9:57 am
I love the New York Philharmonic, but this trip shows why they and other civilians have no business getting involved in international diplomacy. This is the equivalent of Sean Penn visiting Saddam.
It’s naivete, but also a large does of laziness. If they bothered to know what the gulags were like over there, this wouldn’t be happening.
Would it be right for them to serenade Hitler?
December 10th, 2007 at 10:31 am
You’re right; if the members took the time to learn anything substantial about North Korea before going, they’d likely not be going. Most recent books on the DPRK will highlight the human rights disaster that the country is, apologists aside. It is pathetic.
December 10th, 2007 at 12:44 pm
For what it’s worth, I shot an e-mail to PR@NYPhil.org expressing my concerns.
In retrospect, I probably should’ve said Stalin instead of Hitler. The Hitler card is a little overdone.
December 10th, 2007 at 4:00 pm
Stalin and the Kims are three peas in the communist pod. The NYP should be ashamed of themselves. What’s next on their world tour? Zimbabwe? Sudan? How about Iran and Burma?
December 10th, 2007 at 11:08 pm
[…] certainly will be critics with very good arguments. There are artists who would much rather play for dictators in North Korea […]
December 11th, 2007 at 6:34 pm
People are overreacting to this. Cultural exchange is key to opening up the North. Yes, only the elites are going to see it, but the elites are the ones who can make change, and maybe seeing the NYP can set them in the right direction.
December 11th, 2007 at 9:16 pm
Rather naive.
The North Korean elite have much more to lose by changing than by attempting to hold.
December 12th, 2007 at 1:42 am
Knickerbocker, thanks for providing that email address to the NY Philharmonic PR department. I was inspired to send my own email:
Hello,
I am sure you are all quite busy, so I’ll keep this short. I am an American living and working in Seoul, Korea.
While I wish you success on your tour stop in China, I am sure that you can understand the concerns of those of us who believe that handing Kim Jong-il a propaganda coup is not in anyone’s best interest.
Are you aware of the usual drill for foreign visitors in Pyeongyang? Specifically, that they are first taken to a statue of Kim Il-sung and requested to lay flowers at the foot of the statue? I certainly hope I don’t see American musicians taking part in that farce. Let’s not lend any creedence to the cult of personality.
It would be nice not to see orchestra members led around to the usual spots for tourists. The subway station, the Juche tower — those of us who follow North Korea have read the same accounts ad nauseum. If the members of your group are not given the freedom to move around as they wish — and they won’t be, if other tourists’ visits are any precedent — then I urge you not to tour the city.
In other words, have the courage and the dignity to just say “no” to propaganda ploys. There’s safety in numbers, and your large group can make a big statement by not acceding.
Enjoy your time in mind-control central.
Sincerely,
Douglas Binns
December 12th, 2007 at 8:32 am
Well said, Whitey.
December 12th, 2007 at 2:01 pm
I agree with Comment #1.
“‘We only play great music,’ he [Mehta] added when asked whether the choice of pieces had been politically inspired. ‘We don’t think about politics.’”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7140279.stm
December 15th, 2007 at 3:43 pm
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