Four-Fingered Pianist Lee to Play for North Koreans
By Lee Hwan-hee
Staff Reporter
Pianist Lee Hee-ah will hold a benefit concert for physically challenged North Koreans on Sept. 1.
Lee is a 22-year old pianist born with only two fingers on each hand. Yet she has managed to find success as a classical pianist, performing with musicians such as Sumi Jo and Richard Clayderman, and traveling extensively to the United States, England, Japan, China, and Taiwan. She also welcomes being a role model and an inspiration for other physically challenged individuals wishing to follow their dreams.
It comes as no surprise that she wants to inspire those individuals in North Korea. In a press conference Monday, her mother Woo Kap-seon attested to Lee's childhood wish of seeing the two Koreas united. Lee said, ``North Koreans are kin and the closest neighbor to South Koreans, so it is natural that they remain close to my heart,'' and added ``I would like to share the love with the physically challenged children in North Korea.''
The concert originated as her personal request to Yoo Wan-young, head of International Taekwondo Federation who was sponsoring the concert,. At the press conference, Yoo said. ``As a physically challenged person myself, and as someone who has been involved with ventures trying to improve the North-South relations, this concert addresses all my concerns with a message of hope in the form of Hee-ah's music.''
Yoo added that a concert at Pyongyang featuring Lee at the end of the year is being planned. He said, ``I dearly hope for its fruition.''
The concert will start at 7 p.m. at the Olympic Hall, Seoul Olympic Park. In addition to Lee, the concert will also feature Korean-American violinist Eugene Park, the K-pop duo Klon, soprano Park Jeong-won, tenor Lee Seung-mook, pansori singer Kim Geum-mi and the female band Sia, among others. The tickets cost from 50,000 to 70,000 won.
The concert organizers announced that the profit from the concert will be used to support physically challenged North Koreans in the form of various medical equipments and medicines, such as wheelchairs and antibiotics. For further information, visit unikotechkorea@hanmail.net or call (02) 553-4140.