What happened to NK-China ties?

* Concert by NK girl band in Beijng cancelled abruptly

By Rachel Lee

Speculation is mounting about possible tensions between North Korea and China after a North Korean band on Saturday abruptly cancelled three scheduled concerts in Beijing.

The all-girl Moranbong Band, formed by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in 2012, planned to perform in the Chinese capital starting on Saturday, but returned to Pyongyang hours before the show was scheduled to begin. The tour would have been the group’s first international concert.

The sudden departure of the band prompted speculation about relations between North Korea and China, which have been rocky at times since Kim took control in 2011.

It is not clear why the shows were cancelled.

China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency reported that the concert was cancelled due to “communication problems at the working level,” but did not elaborate further on the details.

However, North Korea experts say that the North’s decision to cancel the Beijing gigs might have come from “too much” attention by the Chinese media on the band leader Hyon Song-wol, which created complaints in North Korea. Hyon was reportedly a former girlfriend of the leader Kim Jong-un.

Some unfavorable comments on the leader and band members posted on Chinese social media sites made before the shows also seem to be one of the reasons for cancelling the concerts.

“The Moranbong Band’s performance caused a sensation in China so this abrupt cancellation is likely to be related to Kim’s top dignity issues,” Yonhap News Agency quoted Kim Yong-hyun, a professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University, as saying.

Other watchers say the gigs were cancelled because of Kim’s direct reference to developing a hydrogen bomb four days ago that caused negative effects in China.

Kim said that North Korea is already a “powerful nuclear weapons state ready to detonate self-reliant A-bombs and H-bombs to reliably defend its sovereignty,” the North’s Korea Central News Agency reported.

A thermonuclear weapon is a nuclear weapon that uses more advanced technology to cause a bigger explosion.

With regard to the North Korean leader’s remarks, the Foreign Ministry in China said the country should strive for denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and maintain peace and stability.

“We hope that all sides can do more to ameliorate the situation and make constructive efforts to maintain peace and stability on the peninsula,” said spokeswoman Hua Chunying.

Yang Moo-jin, a professor of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said that there would have been prior consent between Pyongyang and Beijing if the cancellation was related to stories about the band’s leader.

“It will have little influence on the relations between the two sides, which have been cooler recently,” he added.

However, the news coverage about the band leader by South Korean media might have had some negative impact on inter-Korean talks being held in Gaeseong, Yang said.

China has been North Korea’s most important economic and diplomatic backer, but relations between North Korea and China have soured since the North’s third nuclear test in February 2013. The purge of Jang Song-thaek, Pyongyang’s point man for relations with Beijing, aggravated the troubled relationship.