Roh to Watch NK Propaganda Show

President Roh Moo-hyun and his inter-Korean summit entourage will watch North Korea's controversial Arirang performance while visiting the North's capital Pyongyang on Oct. 2-4 for the inter-Korean summit, Roh's office Cheong Wa Dae said Thursday.

"The South has decided to accept the North's proposal that Roh and South Korean summit delegates watch the Arirang performance prepared by North Korean residents," Roh's chief secretary for security, foreign and unification policy, Baek Jong-chun, said in a media briefing.

"Basically, we're guests in Pyongyang and thus need to respect the host North Korea's position. We now have to stay away from the confrontational viewpoint of the past and approach the Arirang issue from the perspective of mutual respect," Baek said.

Arirang has been at the center of heated debate in the South, as some sections of the mass gymnastics and artistic performance are said to feature pro-communist propaganda slogans, praise of communist ideology and idolization of the North's deceased founder Kim Il-sung and his son and incumbent leader Kim Jong-il.

The two Koreas are reportedly pushing for Roh and Kim to watch the one-and-a-half-hour-long Arirang performance together on the evening of Oct. 2 at Rungrado May Day Stadium, the world's largest football stadium capable of seating over 150,000.

The latest revelations by local human rights activists that several thousand North Korean children were mobilized to undergo months of military-style training for the Arirang performance have put further pressure on Roh and officials in Seoul.

Aware of such criticism from local conservatives, Baek said the South has already asked the North to delete some sensitive parts of the performance before Roh watches it.

"I and Cheong Wa Dae officials repeatedly watched recorded tapes of the Arirang performance, but didn't find any serious problems. Thus, the South has demanded some minor changes in the Arirang repertoire," Baek said.

"If we had refused to watch the Arirang performance just because of its North Korean propaganda, there would be little for us to do in the North."

Amid the escalating debate in the South, the Rodong Sinmun, newspaper of the North's ruling Workers' Party, said in an article Monday that the North's Arirang performance is a brainchild of Kim Jong-il.

"It is Kim Jong-il who has accomplished the Arirang performance from its birth to the composition and configuration and developed it into a world-class masterpiece," the paper said.

(Yonhap)