Engaging the North Korean People

One of my main criticisms of the South Korean view of engagement is that it’s seldom permitted to include the people of North Korea. It often reaches the South Korean people, of course, but only with a carefully scripted portrayal of the North as benign and neighborly. Most engagement with the North thus far has been South Korean state welfare for the North’s government and government-owned industries.

See through the schmaltzy emotionalism of this report of a South Korean singer’s concert in Pyongyang to its possible significance in breaking through to the hearts of the people in the audience. Engagement that reaches the people of North Korea may indeed have the potential to spark a mass realization that they are deeply discontented. That’s why the regime is unlikely to let this happen again:

Then a small miracle happened: a song sung by a South Korean pop star brought tears to North Korean eyes. It was about halfway through the concert that Cho launched into the North Korean favorite “We Meet Again After a Dangerous Storm”, which turned some eyes decidedly misty, and there was no stopping the flow of tears with songs such as “Touch-me-not” and “Old Castle”.

Near the end, Cho had them in the palm of his hand with renditions of “Arirang Dream” and “Solo Aririang.” By then, most of the audience were singing and clapping along.

With a few melodies, Cho did in two hours what countless politicians and businessmen failed to do over a decade: he touched a nerve among ordinary North Korean people and sparked genuine interest and emotion. The songs may have been new to the people of Pyongyang, but the song in the heart of Cho Yong-pil, who sang of becoming one, was familiar to them all.

Now, read any South Korean press report about an event of this kind with caution, but this appears to have been what truly significant engagement with North Korea will inevitably be: subversive.