By Kim Hyo-jin
A Western rock band will perform in Pyongyang next month and North Korea is selling concert tickets to foreign tourists, a North Korea travel operator said Tuesday.
Beijing-based Koryo Tours unveiled its new tour package “The Liberation Day Tour” on its website, highlighting “the very first concert by a Western rock band in the DPRK’s history ― Laibach Live in Pyongyang.”
Laibach, a Slovenian rock band, will hold two concerts at the Kim Won-gyun musical conservatory in Pyongyang on Aug. 19 and Aug. 20, according to the tour operator.
Laibach emerged in communist Yugoslavia in the 1980s and became famous in the middle of that decade for their pseudo-fascist outfits.
The band celebrated its 35th Anniversary on July 4.
Laibach’s concerts will coincide with the 70th anniversary of the liberation from Japanese colonialism and subsequent division of the Korean Peninsula.
Morten Traavik, a Laibach’s spokesman and Norwegian artist, told NK News that the concert aims to promote cultural exchange and understanding about the reclusive country.
As an artistic director, Traavik has been involved in Norwegian-North Korean culture projects for the past few years.
North Korean artists and musicians will perform together at the concert, he added.
The concerts are included in a five-day tour package from Aug. 18 to 22, according to Koryo Tours.
Tourist sites on the tour include Kim Il-sung Square, Pyongyang’s largest square and the Kumsusan Memorial Palace of the Sun where the bodies of the late North Korean leaders Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il are laid.
The tour operator however noted that the Laibach’s concerts are subject to final approval by the North Korean authorities.