Red Velvet's Pyongyang gig smuggled to North on USB

(From left) Joy, Yeri, Irene, Seulgi and Wendy from Red Velvet / From Red Velvet's mini-album "The Red Summer"

By Ko Dong-hwan

A Donga University professor shows Notetel, which plays videos from USBs as well as CD and DVD. / Yonhap

While North Korea's central TV station cut out Red Velvet and other artists from its news report on the South Korean art troupe's Pyongyang concert early this month, North Koreans found a way to watch the whole gig ― via smuggled USBs from China.

North Koreans used "Notetel," a Chinese-made electronic gadget that plays video, to watch the show.

The North's state broadcaster Korean Central Television released a three-minute, 20-second report that included a clip from the concert that, except for Lee Sun-hee's ballad number "Dear J," erased all the artists' names and muted their songs and comments. The hermit state is yet to air on television the concert held on April 1 and 3.

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Someone possibly recorded the performance aired on South Korean television, saved it to USB and smuggled it into North Korea via China, Dong A Ilbo said. North Korean officials who monitor Chinese smuggling are usually those who distribute the content to Pyongyang because they "know what the contents are," the report said.

North Koreans who usually buy smuggled content from the South are those with high authority, according to North Korean defectors in Seoul. They watch the forbidden material on Notetel. The device is cheap and small, and its availability and functionality made it popular despite its "primitiveness" compared to the iPhone or Galaxy Note.

Red Velvet, the only K-pop band in the art troupe, raised concerns about how North Koreans would react to the stars' performance of dance numbers "Red Flavor" and "Bad Boy" in revealing clothes.

South Korean TV reports on the concert showed North Koreans at the East Pyongyang Grand Theater quietly watching the performance. Yeri, Seulgi, Irene and Wendy from the SM Entertainment band said after the concert they weren't "as disappointed by the audience as they had worried."

Baek Ji-young sings during a rehearsal at East Pyongyang Grand Theater on April 1. / Korea Times file

Those who saw the concert on smuggled USBs liked "Don't Forget" by Baek Ji-young the most, a Pyongyang source said. The 2009 song is from the popular South Korean TV drama "Iris" shown on KBS.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un asked South Korea's culture minister Do Jong-whan, who led the art troupe, about Baek's song, saying "how good is she in Seoul?" according to Dong A's report.

"We were most concerned about Red Velvet when we prepared the concert," Yoon Sang, a veteran singer and song-writer who directed the troupe, said on a JTBC news show Monday. "We braced ourselves when the band took to the stage, without knowing the audience's reaction, because I watched the concert with North Koreans. I was relieved after I checked the recorded concert back in Seoul."

South Korean rock band YB held a concert in Pyongyang in 2002. "After Letting You Go," which the band sang, became a hit in the country and garnered nationwide popularity among young people. The same is expected of Baek's "Don't Forget," according to reports.

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