By Tom Plate
LOS ANGELES ― And so the New York Philharmonic, one of the greatest ensembles on planet earth, is to play a gig-for-peace in Pyongyang.
The decision to accept North Korea's invitation was announced in New York earlier this week. It must have been music to Kim Jong-il's ears.
In the past few years, the North Korean dictator, whose father founded the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in 1948, has been struggling to save his decrepit regime from unraveling any further.
To this end, he has had the immediate assistance of Do-Gooders ― like me ― who assume that if the North were to collapse, the entire sovereign mess would crash like a collapsing arctic circle on South Korea.
Therefore, if you care a lot about South Korea ― like me ― you can show your love by doing everything you can to keep the North patched together.
Dear Leader ― yes, that's the warm appellation up North for the incompetent and cruel Kim ― has also been helped by the professional labors of Christopher R. Hill.
This is the veteran State Department official who has devoted a recent handful of his years trying to convince Kim's regime to denuclearize while trying to convince the Bush administration that the North's denuclearization is actually in the North's interests ― as well as in Washington's. That Hill has seemingly achieved the near-impossible of persuasive-pursuits, not only puts him into the Do-Gooder group ― but might just make him one of my top candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Every inch forward ― or backward ― with the North Koreans always has to go through a mystic river of negotiations. This ordeal began earlier this year in Berlin. There Hill and one of Dear Leader Kim's buddies bantered around the prospect of even more cultural exchanges to improve bilateral ties, reduce lies and maybe save lives.
At the end of the North Korean denuclearization rainbow would be a basket of economic goodies that should feed lots of North Koreans as well as extend the life of the regime by a lot.
Advertised (mainly by himself) to be a fine connoisseur of the arts ― as well as a master composer of classical music ― Dear Leader was said to have coveted a special concert by America's longest established orchestra. As if on command, Zarin Mehta and other New York Phil officials showed up in Pyongyang in October to scope out venues and hammer out details.
Normally, concert programs in North Korea ― few though they may be ― require approval at the highest levels. It is said that some of the masterpieces that are required to be performed, while unknown in the West, are indeed masterpieces, as they have been composed by the Dear Leader himself. In other words, the audience had better applaud!
Apparently the New York Phil, in agreeing to perform, puts its foot down: No works by Kim, alleged or not, will be performed. ``The Star-Spangled Banner," yes; American music, yes!
The concert is to take place in Pyongyang at the end of February. It will follow a concert tour of China and Taiwan And the entire East Asian tour will end with a final concert by the giant orchestra in Seoul, quite fittingly.
Recently, President George W. Bush, who early-on in his administration called the Dear Leader all sorts of un-nice names, sent Kim a warm personal letter. Its purpose was to keep the regime on the nuclear disarmament straight-and-narrow.
Presumably the president, appraised by Hill of the North Korean overture to the New York Phil, was in no position to wish to stop the music. Having given the adroit Hill a long leash, Bush now stands on the edge of a diplomatic triumph should the North certifiably denuclearize.
In this atmosphere, I, for one, am in no position to question the Philharmonic's decision. Ever since the election in 1997 of peacemaker Kim Dae-jung to the South Korean presidency, this column has been nothing short of a cheerleader for aggressive engagement with North Korea. It stomped for the so-called Sunshine Policy of Kim and his successor; it supported the six-party talks process engineered by Beijing; and it cheers on Hill and the State Department's negotiating efforts.
In almost all instances war seems like such a dismal option that even the most far-fetched efforts at peace require excessive (though not blind, of course) exuberance. Let the Philharmonic band play on! No sour notes should be allowed.
Prof. Tom Plate, a board member of the UCLA Burkle Center on International Relations, is a veteran journalist and long-time supporter of the sunshine policy. He is also the author of his new book ``Confessions of an American Journalist."