Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




NUKEWARS
Pyongyang style: North Korea girl bands rock China's border
By Benjamin HAAS
Hunchun, China (AFP) July 23, 2015


Like many Chinese hotels, the Kunlun International hotel has rock bottom prices. It also boasts rooms with round beds and dance poles, and an all-female North Korean rock band who belt out "Anthem of the Worker's Party" and other socialist classics every night.

Young and good-looking, the seven-piece group bear a striking similarity to the Moranbong band, a North Korean musical phenomenon who have been accorded huge success since their members were hand-selected by leader Kim Jong-Un.

Now, imitators from Pyongyang are performing in Chinese border towns, looking to provide genuine entertainment rather than the novelty value long offered by North Korean restaurants and bands in Asia -- which provide the diplomatically isolated government with much-needed hard currency.

At the hotel in Hunchun, sandwiched in a sliver of China between Russia and North Korea, the band -- who have no name of their own -- wore lurid red and were bathed in purple spotlights and clouds of dry ice.

They delivered ear-splitting renditions of traditional Korean folk songs and patriotic tunes, complete with howling electric guitars, heavy drums and thumping basslines.

The Chinese tribute to the ruling organisation, "Without The Communist Party, There Would Be No New China" was given the same treatment, in front of a video of a waving Chinese flag.

Three middle-aged Chinese men raised their arms, crying "Bravo!"

"North Korea is so impoverished and they really need the open up economically like China did," said tourist Zhao Dongxia.

"But the band was pretty good. It's the first time I've seen North Koreans. They didn't look that poor."

- Symbol of Kim's reign -

Pyongyang strictly controls which citizens are allowed to leave the country, and Beijing's policy is to repatriate illegal border crossers -- returning them to an uncertain fate.

The performers spend almost all their time in the hotel, rarely venturing outside, singer Lim Tae-Jeong told AFP, picking up a Chinese edition of Vogue.

"I can't read Chinese but I love to look at the pictures, the clothes are very different, very modern," she said in halting Chinese.

"Of course I love the Moranbong band, although we are not anywhere as good as them," she demurred.

South Korea's pop culture has given Seoul a soft power push in recent years, and singer Psy's 2012 hit Gangnam Style became a worldwide phenomenon.

The Moranbong band have not had a similar global impact. But inside North Korea, streets reportedly empty during their concerts and students can sing their repertoire at the drop of a hat.

All women, they are radically different from previous musical offerings, with fast tempos and disco stylings.

Pekka Korhonen, a political science professor at Finland's University of Jyv�skyl� who runs a website dedicated to tracking the group, attributes the traits to Kim's years spent studying and living in Europe.

"The Moranbong band is incredibly popular, but what does popular mean in North Korea?" he said.

"The band is a symbol of Kim's new reign, and therefore will be popular until he says otherwise."

- 'Huge crowds' -

North Korea has been sending workers abroad for decades, working in everything from Russian logging camps to Gulf state construction sites and restaurants in Cambodia.

According to human rights groups, the bulk of their hard currency salary is confiscated by the state, and the programme has expanded since Kim came to power in late 2011 as a way of subverting sanctions.

A 2012 study by the North Korea Strategy Center and the Korea Policy Research Center estimated that 60,000 to 65,000 North Koreans were working in more than 40 countries, providing the state with $150 million to $230 million a year.

Many of the border performers have attended music college, although some shows are little more than glorified karaoke.

At one such display in a Hunchun restaurant, three singers doubled as the only waitresses, singing duets with diners for a fee and awkwardly accepting proffered 100 yuan notes -- an unusual sight in a country where tipping is extremely rare.

The Ryugyong hotel in nearby Yanji shares its name with a gargantuan 105-floor pyramid-shaped Pyongyang hotel that began construction in 1987 but still stands unfinished.

Women in red and white uniforms performed a synchronised a tap dancing routine evoking a socialist Riverdance.

All the artists express deep pride for their country, but musical prominence can be perilous in the North.

The Unhasu Orchestra, previously the pinnacle of North Korean music, was disbanded in 2013, and according to South Korean intelligence Kim had four members executed by firing squad earlier this year for espionage. Pyongyang has not commented on the issue.

Ryu Seol-Sin has been in China for nearly two years and has started to think about her return home.

The 28-year-old is a graduate of Kim Won-Gyun Pyongyang University of Music, reportedly the same alma mater as many Moranbong members.

"I used to want to work very hard and try to rise to play for huge crowds," she said. "But now I think I want to teach music, I think it's a more stable and safer way to serve my country."


Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only


.


Related Links
Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com
Learn about missile defense at SpaceWar.com
All about missiles at SpaceWar.com
Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle




Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News





NUKEWARS
S. Korea regrets North's rejection of talks offers
Seoul (AFP) July 20, 2015
South Korea voiced regret Monday at North Korea's rejection of its offers for talks at various levels as both countries prepare to mark the 70th anniversary of the Korean peninsula's liberation from Japanese colonial rule. Last week, Seoul's parliamentary speaker Chung Ui-Hwa had used the August 15 anniversary as a peg to offer talks with his North Korean counterpart, Kim Yong-Nam. On th ... read more


NUKEWARS
Russia to Land Space Vessel on Moon's Polar Region in 2019

Moon engulfed in permanent, lopsided dust cloud

Crashing comets may explain mysterious lunar swirls

Google Lunar X-Prize meets Yoda

NUKEWARS
Curiosity rover finds evidence of Mars' primitive continental crust

Never Get Lost on Mars Again With NASA's New Red Planet Map

Opportunity Rover's 7th Mars Winter to Include New Study Area

Opportunity Gets Back to Work

NUKEWARS
Space crew praises US-Russian 'handshake in space' 40 years on

Planetary Resources' First Spacecraft Successfully Deployed

NASA selects leading-edge concepts for continued study

US selects four astronauts for commercial flight

NUKEWARS
Chinese earth station is for exclusively scientific and civilian purposes

Cooperation in satellite technology put Belgium, China to forefront

China set to bolster space, polar security

China's super "eye" to speed up space rendezvous

NUKEWARS
Rocket carrying Russian, Japanese, US crew docks with ISS

Student satellite wins green light for Station deployment

'Jedi' astronauts say 'no fear' as they gear for ISS trip

Relief as Russian cargo ship docks at space station

NUKEWARS
Failed strut caused SpaceX rocket blast: CEO Elon Musk

Ariane 5 lofts two geo birds for teleco and weather customers

Atlas V Launch Uses New Measurement Hardware

Supporting Arianespace's mission cadence: A new fueling facility is ready

NUKEWARS
Bricks to build an Earth found in every planetary system

Observing the birth of a planet

Precise ages of largest number of stars hosting planets ever measured

Can Planets Be Rejuvenated Around Dead Stars?

NUKEWARS
Metal foams capable of shielding X-rays, gamma rays, neutron radiation

Indra Finishes Implementation Of Main Center For Paz Satellite

Yinchuan to host China-Arab satellite service industry demonstration site

New mussel-inspired surgical protein glue




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.