[Photo by Yoo Dae-gil =dbeorlf123@ajunews.com]
SEOUL -- Popular K-pop girl band Red Velvet was included in a South Korean art troupe which will hold concerts in Pyongyang to capture the hearts of North Korean fans ahead of an inter-Korean summit in April.
Helped by a streak of hit songs including "Rookie", the five-member girl group has broadened the base of international fans. Under an agreement at inter-Korean talks in the truce village of Panmunjom, South Korea will dispatch a 160-member art troupe for two concerts during its four-day stay in Pyongyang from March 31.
The troupe included Seohyun, a Girls' Generation member who joined a concert by North Korean artists in Seoul last month. In an emotional finale watched by President Moon Jae-in and the young sister of Pyongyang's ruler Kim Jong-un, Seohyun and North Korean singers sang together.
The troupe will be led by Yun Sang, a singer and composer who held talks Tuesday with Moranbond Band leader Hyon Song-wol who led a North Korean art troupe to South Korea last month. South Korean musicians held their first concert in Pyongyang in 1984, followed by a series of performances later.
Artists invited for this year's concerts included Cho Yong-pil, a pop legend, and Yoon Do-hyun, a rock band leader, and veteran female ballad singers Lee Sun-hee and Choi Jin-hee, who are popular among old North Korean fans, as well as female singers such as Ali, Baek Ji-young and Choi Jung-in.
reporter
Lim Chang-won
cwlim34@ajunews.com
