North Korea's Spice Girls leave China without singing a note: Kim Jong-un's favourite girl band cancel 'due to communciation problems'
The first overseas concert by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's favourite girl band was abruptly called off on Saturday hours before they were to take the stage in Beijing.
The first overseas concert by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's favourite girl band was abruptly called off on Saturday just hours before they were to take the stage in Beijing.
The National Centre for the Performing Arts, where the band was to give a series of concerts over three days accompanied by an orchestra, confirmed the show was cancelled "due to certain reasons," without specifying.
"We just received a notice that the three days of concerts were all cancelled," an operator with the centre's hotline said when reached by the at 6pm - 90 minutes before the performance was to start. Censors removed most reports of the cancellation.
On Sunday, State-run Xinhua quoted people from relevant departments as saying that the performance was cancelled because of “communication issues at the working level”, without further elaboration.
China attached high importance to cultural exchanges with North Korea, and was ready to continue to work with it to promote bilateral exchanges and cooperation in culture and all other areas, the report said.
About 20 members of Moranbong Band were seen departing for home from Beijing's international airport at about 1pm on Saturday.
They arrived at the airport in two batches and boarded Flight JS152 to Pyongyang, which took off at about 4pm, mainland media reported.
According to the schedule, the delegation of more than 100 artists was expected to give four concerts from Saturdya to Monday at the 2,200-seat performing arts centre, near Tiananmen Square.
Last night's performance was by invitation only, with the others supposedly open to the public, but no details were released about how to buy tickets.
North Korea announced the band's high-profile visit earlier this week, and which comes at a time when China and North Korea are working to warm relations strained by Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programmes. It was hailed as a friendship visit and welcomed by state media.
"This is not just an ordinary cultural exchange, but a 'large-scale diplomatic activity', a special way for both sides to express goodwill to each other," the , a tabloid affiliated with Communist Party mouthpiece said on Friday.
The band members, dressed in military-style, long olive winter coats and fur hats, arrived in Beijing by train from Pyongyang on Thursday.
The singers and musicians, sometimes wearing skirts cut well above the knee, are known for light dance routines and their performances are considered modern and even seductive by North Korean standards.
