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LETTER FROM PYONGYANG

A REALLY BIG SHOW The ’s fantasia in North Korea By Suki Kim

By noon on February 25, 2008, of carry-on bags, the musicians were juxtaposed with recent shots of the mae- seventy-five journalists were crowding joined by an entourage of twenty-five stro wielding a baton. the Asiana Airlines gate at Beijing wealthy patrons who had paid $50,000 “What is being offered to you is a Capital Interna- privilege,” I was tional Airport. told by the Phil- Many had their harmonic’s P.R. di- laptops open, since rector, Eric Latzky, this would be their before my depar- last chance to use ture from New the Internet for the York. Apparently, next forty-eight the privilege didn’t hours. Some were include the chance pacing the floor to speak freely to with cell phones any of the Philhar- pressed tightly to monic’s musicians, their ears, knowing including the eight they would soon who are of Korean have to part with origin, a point them, along with made clear when their passports. The Latzky insisted that correspondents had I speak to the musi- come from around cians only with his the world for the permission and as- chance to travel to sured me he would the forbidden des- arrange interviews. tination whose name was gleaming per person to accompany the Philhar- During the tour I got tired of waiting, from the flat-screen monitors: monic into North Korea. and I loitered in hotel lobbies in the PYONGYANG. Most of those gathered For almost a week, I had been fol- hope of chatting up a passing violinist had never been there, and some had lowing the orchestra on its Asian tour. or a cellist. Whatever was behind tried and failed repeatedly to gain ac- Beijing, the final stop before Pyongyang, Latzky’s stalling, he needn’t have wor- cess. Suddenly, cameras began clicking was a giant construction site. The ried; when I asked the musicians about furiously as the 110 members of the Olympics were less than six months the planned concert in Pyongyang, New York Philharmonic approached away, and China’s capital city was con- their answers were the same: the gate. Hauling instruments instead sumed by last-minute preparations. The “This is about music, not politics.” streets were plastered with BEIJING 2008 “We’re bringing music to people Suki Kim is the author of a novel, The In- posters, as well as black-and-white pho- who have no music.” terpreter, and is traveling to as tographs of Lorin Maazel, the Philhar- “It’s an historic moment, and we’re a Fulbright Research Scholar. monic’s music director, in his youth, happy to play a role in it.”

Illustration by John Ritter LETTER FROM PYONGYANG 61 (rev 62)Kim Final2 Rev2 10/28/08 9:05 AM Page 62

Their firm belief in their roles as sets. And then there is the regime’s chestra, and the amount of good- cultural ambassadors echoed that of reputation for going back on its word. will and good food going around their maestro, who had made similar So why do it? He answered, his voice prompted Ambassador Randt to declarations in a Wall Street Journal betraying nothing but relaxed earnest- joke, “I hope you enjoy this dinner op-ed: “Artists . . . have a broader role ness, “World peace.” because it will be better than what to play in the public arena. But it must Latzky had offered me a more you’ll get in Pyongyang!” Paul be totally apolitical, nonpartisan and elaborate story during our interview Guenther, the Philharmonic’s chair- free of issue-specific agendas. It is a in his office at New York’s Avery man and the former president of the role of the highest possible order.” Jon Fisher Hall. “Zarin had flown to PaineWebber Group, quipped, “I’m Deak, a double bass player with the Stockholm to work with Alan bringing my protein bar.” The for- Philharmonic for thirty-nine years, ex- Gilbert”—the conductor scheduled mer U.S. ambassador to Hungary, plained it this way: “Lenny would’ve to succeed Lorin Maazel for the Donald Blinken, chimed in, “I’m done it”—“Lenny” being the late 2009 season—“and I flew to Venice ready for anything. I’ve got my long Leonard Bernstein, the music direc- to see the Biennale before heading underwear with me.” The party was tor who took the orchestra to the to the south of France, Switzerland, getting jolly. Soviet Union in 1959 and to Berlin and . I was on a vaporetto In the middle of the room was when the wall came down surrounded by a boatful of German Benjamin M. Rosen, an elderly man in 1989. and American and British tourists, with a cheeky smile who introduced all these people with I LOVE VENICE himself as a blogger for the Huffing- “It’s a new frontier,” said Zarin T-shirts and cameras around their ton Post (though he is better known Mehta, the Philharmonic’s Bombay- necks, and my cell phone rings, and as the former chairman of Compaq born president (and brother of its it’s this man I had never spoken to, Computer), in a quandary over how longest-serving music director, Zubin and he introduces himself as an offi- many bottles of whiskey to purchase Mehta), when asked about staging a cial from the DPRK Permanent Mis- for his minders. Someone told him concert in Pyongyang, the city he sion to the United Nations.” Latzky two or three, after which he walked called “a nice Orwellian fantasy.” paused briefly to offer me a violet- around asking, “Which brand do you While we were in Beijing, Mehta, colored candy, which he said could think North Koreans would prefer?” whom Latzky had described as “the be found only at a particular confec- Pulling me aside, Sungeun Han- old world Anglo-Indian gentleman,” tionery in Vienna. “I kind of stood Andersen, the coifed young Korean told me that it all began in August up straight, and he’s calling to con- wife of an investment banker, whis- 2007, when an unnamed California- firm that we had received the invi- pered, “My parents are from North based mediator faxed an invitation tation. I had two friends with me, Korea, but I wouldn’t dare look for from the North Korean culture min- one of whom has a diplomatic back- my relatives. I’ve heard that they istry that Mehta then brought to the ground, and he’s in stitches laugh- blackmail you. You know that’s what attention of Christopher Hill, the as- ing. It was noisy on the boat, and I these people live on.” Accompany- sistant secretary of state for East Asian am having this really loud, formal, ing one of the concert’s producers and Pacific affairs. “Believe me,” Mehta diplomatic cell-phone conversation was a young man named Christopher said, “this was approved at the highest with the North Korean man. That who had once worked as an assistant levels in the White House.” (Accord- was the first contact.” Latzky con- to a celebrity photographer in Man- ing to reports in the South Korean tinued, shrugging once to add, “By hattan but was between jobs. He had press, the concert was first proposed virtue of who the New York Phil- come along to “experience a back- in July 2007, during bilateral talks in harmonic is, and the fact that we ward country.” “Beijing isn’t back- Berlin, when the North Korean travel around the world, we have ward enough,” he said. “Shanghai vice–foreign minister, Kim Kye Gwan, diplomatic contacts on a regular ba- was better because that was a bit presented Hill with the idea of invit- sis.” He pointed to a wall of pho- more backward, but everyone knows ing the orchestra for a cultural ex- tographs. “That picture right there, that the real backward spot these change.) I expressed some surprise that that’s in Tokyo, that’s the empress days is Pyongyang.” the North Koreans had been so oblig- of Japan attending one of our con- Holding court in a corner was a ing. “Is it the country or is it the people certs. We regularly have heads of seventy-five-year-old Japanese woman I was dealing with? I can’t answer that,” states attending our concerts. So the reputed to have a $190 million for- Mehta acknowledged. “If I had to re- realm is not so unusual to us. We are tune that was inherited from her late strict my view of the country based on a noted cultural ambassador of the husband, Count Ceschina of Venice. the people I dealt with, I would say .” The countess was greeting everyone that they were clever, engaging, and Latzky had invited me to a pri- with “Yoko—no, not that Yoko.” A cooperative, but you know that the vate reception in Beijing for the frequent contributor to Prince country isn’t like that from what you’ve Philharmonic’s patrons, which was Charles’s charities and a former read.” North Korea had promised that hosted by U.S. Ambassador Clark harpist, Yoko Nagae Ceschina was un- the concert would be broadcast live T. Randt Jr. at his residence. The derwriting most of the cost of the Py- on state-run radio and TV. But elec- event included a chamber concert ongyang concert and seemed elated tricity is scarce there, as are television featuring three stars from the or- about the next stop on the tour. “I

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don’t know about politics,” she said. presidential inauguration of conser- Mrs. Rubenstein, an owner of New “But I think it’s a good thing to go vative Lee Myung Bak, who had York’s Peter Luger Steakhouse, nod- there. When Zarin told me about this, riled North Korea’s sympathizers re- ding with girlish diffidence. “It’s ex- I said, ‘I want to go to Pyongyang!’” cently by proposing to shut down citing. I’ve never even been to South Back at the Grand Hyatt Beijing, the Ministry of Unification alto- Korea, and here I am going to the I wangled an invitation to an gether. Meanwhile, the two Koreas North.” Everyone was chatting inces- oboist’s room, where a dozen musi- not only were still at war but were santly, as though we were children on cians had gathered around a case of also locked in a battle wherein the the most thrilling field trip ever: “Our Tsingtao beer. For months, the or- North, despite FIFA regulations, provisions must be coming on a sepa- chestra members had been debating was refusing to let the South fly its rate plane, since there’s no food over the proper etiquette should Kim flag and play its anthem at the there”; “It sucks that we won’t get to Jong Il attend the concert. They World Cup qualification match keep the visa for a souvenir”; “I’m al- were unsure whether they should scheduled to be held in Pyongyang ready going through BlackBerry with- rise for this particular head of state, in a few weeks. The six-party talks drawal.” Soon, there was a barrage of so they agreed to mount the stage had been stalled since the previous questions. “Will there be an ATM?” together and remain standing until year, and U.S. Secretary of State “Will they charge for incoming calls their concertmaster came out. Condoleezza Rice was in on too?” “Will we be able to walk around Markus Rhoten, a twenty-nine-year- her way to Beijing, where she would on our own?” The plane could have old German-born timpanist, told urge Chinese leaders to put pressure been heading for the moon. me, “When the Berlin wall came on the Kim Jong Il regime to fulfill Yet a hush of silence fell as the down, it wasn’t smooth at all. I’ve its pledge of nuclear disarmament. 4:00 P.M. arrival was announced over been to Seoul, and I imagine that While the South Korean reporters the PA system. Passengers paused this isn’t as simple as they make it were calculating the cost of the mid-sentence. Their eyes widened. sound.” The others—whose names I show, the American correspondents They held up their digital cameras. promised to withhold because they had other concerns. “I’ve gotta get a They turned their faces to the win- were nervous about speaking to me shot like the one in a Michael Moore dows. For the few of us who had without permission—expressed their documentary with a palm pressed been to Pyongyang before, the place own misgivings: “I had to under- against the camera,” said a young was still unfathomable. Six years had go three therapy sessions to feel CNN crewmember. A Fox anchor passed since my first visit, and here I okay about this,” and, “This is a job. sat nearby; he kept pronouncing was again beholding this land, the Let’s just say we have “Pyongyang” as “Piiaaang Yiiaaang,” source of grief and longing for gener- no choice.” as if the extra nasal delivery would ations of Koreans. make the name sound extra Korean. On June 25, 1950, when North On the two-hour flight from The celebrity anchors Christiane Korean tanks charged into Seoul, my Beijing to Pyongyang, several South Amanpour and Bob Woodruff were grandmother packed all her belong- Korean reporters huddled together, said to have already arrived, which ings and took her five children, adding up numbers. Asiana Airlines then got a few reporters talking about including my then four-year-old had spent about $700,000 to provide how Amanpour and Woodruff might mother, to join the panicked crowds the Philharmonic with a free charter have negotiated such exclusive ac- fighting to board an already packed flight to the event (although each cess and whether there would be a southbound train. She had finally se- member of the press had to pay the Kim Jong Il sighting after all. For the cured seats when someone shouted Philharmonic $400 for a seat). The reporters on the plane, Kim Jong Il that young men must make room for MBC network, the concert’s main had become the world’s biggest women and children. Her seventeen- broadcaster in South Korea, had celebrity, and they were the paparazzi year-old son rose, telling her that sent fifteen trucks of equipment and staking out the shot. he would get on the next train. seventy-two crewmembers across Seated away from the reporters was Hers was the last train out. Her the DMZ at a projected cost of the P.R. legend Howard Rubenstein, friends later reported seeing him be- around $3.2 million. Kim Ki Hoon, whose gentle mien belied the luster of ing taken away by North Korean a reporter for Chosun Ilbo, South a client list that includes the Yankees soldiers, his hands tied. My grand- Korea’s national newspaper, ex- and the Philharmonic. “I’m interested mother wandered around Seoul in plained that “who paid what” was “a in how he”—Kim Jong Il—“keeps search of her firstborn child and was key factor in dealing with the such tight control over his people,” appeased only when a local shaman North.” After all, the 2000 Inter- said Rubenstein. “I guess it’s a profes- told her that he was alive some- Korean Summit, for which Kim Dae sional curiosity.”1 Next to him was where near Pyongyang. Until she Joong, South Korea’s president at died of a heart attack two decades the time, won a Nobel Peace Prize, 1 Rubenstein, contacted by a fact-checker, later, she looked to the North as cost their government $500 million directed all inquiries to a spokesman, who though the 38th Parallel would denied that Rubenstein made this comment in a secret payoff to Kim Jong Il. and emphasized that Rubenstein was on the break open at any minute and re- This morning, some of the reporters tour not as a Philharmonic patron but in his turn him to her. had been rerouted from covering the capacity as the company’s publicist. The Korean War lasted three years

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and resulted in the death, wound- ing, or disappearance of 3 million civilians—roughly a tenth of the peninsula’s population. North Kore- an and Chinese military casualties have been estimated at 1.5 million. South Korean forces suffered 415,000 dead and 429,000 wounded; U.S. forces, 33,000 dead and 103,000 wounded. Whenever those speaking on be- half of the Philharmonic described Emissions so clean their concert as “historic,” I won- you could drink them. dered what they meant by the word. I thought of my grandmother, who was about my age when she realized that she might never see her son again. I imagined, though I never liked imag- ining it, the unforeseen and unde- served life that my seventeen-year- old uncle must have endured alone on the other side of the border. Six years ago, I had gone to Pyongyang only to learn that he was still miss- ing, half a century after the armistice. This time, as the plane hit the frozen ground, I looked out the window from the South Korean charter plane carrying one of the largest contin- gents of Americans North Korea had seen since the war, remembering and feeling the dread B63:7B3@/@G;/5/H7<3 of remembering. hen we arrived in Pyongyang, 0G167:2@3< Wsnow was falling softly. The hills loomed in the foggy distance, like shad- ÇJ^[D[mOeha[he\j^[.#je#')i[j$ÈÆci$cW]Wp_d[ ows. The landscape could have be-  longed to the 1970s South Korean Ç?\Ijed[Iekf^WZX[[dWhekdZ_dj^[8hedj† countryside, which is where I grew up i_ij[hiÊ[WhboZWoi"j^[oikh[bomekbZ^Wl[]ejj[d before moving to the United States in j^[_hijWhjm_j^_d_jifW][i$ÈÆfWh[dj_d]cW]Wp_d[ 1983, when I was thirteen years old. A few planes bearing Air Koryo emblems 1V`Wab[Oa6O\cYYOV0W`bVROga´ were parked along the runway, like strange ancient flies. The bleak stillness @a\[R @\b] _iW]_\jj^WjXh_d]i^ekhie\[d`eoc[dj" was moody and colorless. dej`kijedj^[ZWo_j_ih[Y[_l[ZXkjj^hek]^ekj On top of the lone terminal j^[o[Wh$Oekd]f[efb[bel[^Wl_d]j^[_hl[hoemd building hung a portrait of Kim Il cW]Wp_d[WdZbeea\ehmWhZje][jj_d][WY^d[m_iik[_dj^[cW_b$ Sung, the original Great Leader, @a\[R @\b]·` ijeh_[i"fe[ci"WdZ_bbkijhWj_ediWh[WbbXoY^_bZh[d$ whose founding philosophy of ?jÀij^[f[h\[Yj]_\j\ehYh[Wj_l[.#je')#o[Wh#ebZi$ Juche, meaning “self-reliance,” de- @a\[R @\b] V` ]bOYV`URQ `Ve aVZR` N fRN_' 7N[bN_f :N_PU :Nf 7bYf @R]aRZOR_ ;\cRZOR_ fined his country. Here, the year was Juche 97, according to the official ' o[Wh)-  ( o[Whi,& ) o[Whi.( DWc[ calendar that begins with Kim’s 9WdWZWWZZ,f[ho[Wh1ej^[hYekdjh_[iWZZ'(f[ho[Wh$ 7ZZh[ii birth on April 15, 1912, “the Day of 9^[Ya[dYbei[Z  L_iW  C9  7c;n the Sun.” Since his death in 1994, 9WhZ 9_jo"IjWj["P_f Kim Il Sung has been relegated to ;nf$ZWj[ F^ed[ =_\jYWhZ0 NcWi  >WdkaaW^  8ÀZWo the title of “Eternal President” or “Eternal Great Leader,” while his 9WhZ^ebZ[h =_\j\hec son, Kim Jong Il, whom the Western ddd`a\[R`\b]P\Z U %!!$!"#& =< /\e %  @N[aN 0_bg 0. &"# 5= 64 HARPER’S MAGAZINE / DECEMBER 2008

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media is stuck on calling “Dear Leader,” has taken over as “Great Leader” and “Great General.” The younger Kim, despite never having spent a day in the military, holds the rank of supreme commander of the Korean People’s Army, the fourth-largest force in the world, Another innovation you’ll find which drafts all women and men at inside a BMW. the age of sixteen for seven or ten years of service. We disembarked to find a group of men wearing Great Leader pins standing on the tarmac. As the pho- tographers surrounded Maazel and the orchestra, I struck up a conversa- tion with a North Korean Chosun Central Television reporter named Kwon Soon Ho, who was wearing a khaki jacket and dark sunglasses. “We’ve all been waiting for your ar- rival for two months. Everyone is looking forward to watching the The BMW Hydrogen 7 boasts a 12-cylinder engine with a top speed concert on TV,” Kwon declared, and of over 140 mph. But equally impressive is that it produces near-zero he seemed surprised to hear that the emissions. Which means the exhaust produces water vapor, not carbon orchestra had just toured in other dioxide. It’s an idea that makes more than an environmental statement. parts of Asia. I tried to ask him more Learn more about our clean future vision at bmwusa.com/ideas. questions, but he quickly ended our ©2008 BMW of North America, LLC. The BMW name, model names and logo are registered trademarks. chat. “We have no hard feelings for Vehicle not yet available for sale. the people of America,” he inter- rupted. “We are dongbangyaeui- jiguk”—courteous nation of the East—“and will treat our guests with respect. Let’s both hope for unifica- tion in our near future.” WASHINGTON After Maazel and his entourage were whisked into a black Mercedes to be taken to a private guesthouse, Babylon the rest of us were divided into small groups and assigned guides and translators. The patrons were booked BY KEN SILVERSTEIN at the Potanggang Hotel, which is owned by the North Korean–born Unification Church leader Reverend Moon, who has been investing heav- A weblog focused on ily in the North, and most of the South Korean journalists were herd- political corruption in ed off to the Koryo Hotel. The re- maining journalists and musicians Washington, D.C. were taken to the Yanggakdo Inter- national Hotel, which is known as “Hotel Alcatraz” due to its isolated location on Yanggak Island in the Updated several middle of Taedong River, where it is effectively cut off from the rest of times a week with Pyongyang. From this point on, our interactions were confined mostly to breaking news and those within our group. We were told to stay with our designated bus- political analysis es. Mine was Bus #8. Only at: harpers.org LETTER FROM PYONGYANG 65

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Although the road was relatively The Mansudae Artists performed you’ll be invited back.” As the din- empty, more cars were in evidence traditional dances using fans and ner progressed he became more lo- now than they were six years ago. A drums, dances that are typical in Ko- quacious. “How much are you being shiny SUV passed by. A modern bill- rea. Not surprisingly, I saw a South paid for writing your essay?” “Does board bearing a photo of Pyonghwa Korean reporter dozing nearby. your computer have the Internet?” Motors’ “Cuckoo” car stood out (What was surprising was that the “How much is a camera in America? among the other signs that read featured folk music had nothing to I want to travel and take photos, but “THANK YOU, GREAT GENERAL KIM do with the Great Leader.) With I have no camera.” He had gone JONG IL” and “OUR GREAT GENERAL North Korean guides and translators abroad once as an exchange student COMRADE KIM JONG IL, THE SUN OF all around us, there was no possibili- to Leipzig, Germany, though he THE 21ST CENTURY.” I found this last ty of any of us wandering outside. wouldn’t reveal whether he was al- sign confusing, as the North Korean Afterward, Maestro Maazel himself lowed to travel anymore. The only calendar put us in the first century delivered a bouquet to the lead glimpse he had ever had of South and the “Day of the Sun” hailed the dancer onstage, flashing a smile to Korea was from TV news segments birth of Kim Il Sung, not Kim Jong Il. the cameras. As I left the theater, I on labor-union protests there. He Amid the sparsely sprouting trees spotted Michelle Kim, a Korean- had “seen” the Internet (or the “In- along the road were a few three- and American violinist whose parents tranet,” as North Koreans call their four-story buildings in lavender and had been born in Pyongyang, and I limited-access version), but it didn’t green. They looked freshly painted asked for her first impressions. “Awe- show much. Cars cost between compared with the gray cement some!” she said. I asked her what ex- 10,000 and 20,000 euros, and a com- blocks that must have been apart- actly about North Korea she found puter costs about 400 euros, which ment complexes. People were walk- awesome. “It’s beautiful here, and most people cannot afford. (I didn’t ing or riding bicycles. Even their faces the people are really cool.” see any evidence of the North Kore- looked healthier than I remembered We were immediately led to a an wo˘n while I was there, since all them. No one was lacking a coat. For huge banquet hall adjacent to the their currency transactions with for- a moment, it appeared as though re- theater where there were sparkling eigners are conducted in euros.) I cent reports that the previous year’s chandeliers, white tablecloths, and asked him what his salary was. “We floods had worsened food shortages— jacket-clad servers. The centerpieces are socialists,” was his answer. As the leading to the cessation of rations and appeared to be bouquets of Kimil- dessert of cakes and ice cream was further malnourishment among the sungia, a magenta orchid named af- served, he suggested, “Maybe you’d country’s 23 million people—might ter the Eternal Great Leader, sur- like to leave me your computer and have been wrong. A British reporter, rounded by bottles of Taedong River camera as a souvenir.” who had been to Pyongyang before, beer, ginseng liquor, and wild mug- During the five-minute drive back concurred: “Certainly more traffic wort wine. The room was so brightly to the hotel, we saw monuments here than I’ve ever seen.” The bus lit that I could see every face around that were lit up as if it were Christ- skipped the mandatory stop at Man- me. Peter Kenote, a viola player, mas. No other lights, whether from sudae, where every visitor must bow muttered, “This is so embarrassing. I neighboring buildings or advertising to the statue of Kim Il can’t eat all this when people are billboards, interfered with the Sung upon arrival. starving outside.” Markus Rhoten, sparkling decoration. A German the timpanist, seemed amused as he television crew, which had arrived My room on the thirty-third rolled his eyes at the mound of food the day before to set up, told me that floor of the forty-seven-story Yang- on the table. The menu informed us the city had been dark and the lights gakdo International Hotel was heat- that the sixteen-course dinner would suddenly came on as our plane ar- ed so thoroughly that upon entering I consist of such delicacies as “floral rived. From the hotel’s thirty-third looked immediately for a window, basket shaped turkey,” “fish jelly,” floor hallway window, however, all I which was bolted shut and steamed and “lady crab gratin.” The only could see was utter darkness. over. From the hallway window I North Korean specialties were Back in my room, I turned on could see the murky horizon of gray Pyongyang-style kimchi, which was Chosun Central TV, which was show- buildings that surrounded the loop of more watery than the version I had ing a dance performance almost ex- the Taedong River, which a guide on grown up eating, and a clear soup actly like the one we had attended the bus had described as “deeper and with balls of pheasant meat floating earlier that evening. Even the dancers’ flowing from a higher source than in it. heavily made-up faces looked identi- Seoul’s Han River.” I would have I was seated next to Kim Chul, a cal. I watched it for about fifteen min- liked to take in the view, but the representative from the Korean As- utes before falling asleep, not certain itinerary provided by the Philhar- sociation for Art Exchange, North if it was a taping of the same show monic left no time for lingering or re- Korea’s official hosting organization I’d seen or another show flection. It was now 5:30 P.M.; the for the concert, and he wasted little just like it. welcome show by the Mansudae time before giving me some terse ad- Artists was due to begin at Moran- vice. “You should write good things Caviar for breakfast was the last bong Theater in half an hour. about us,” he instructed, “and then thing I expected. Although it was

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not quite 7:00 A.M., I was given no could be packaged as part of the choice but to sit down before the tributes. Mehta firmly denied this, lavish buffet. I had wanted to take a but Maazel later referred to the Phil- THE THRILL walk, but the guard at the hotel door harmonic’s 1959 concert in the So- told me that there was “nothing in- viet Union. “The Soviets didn’t re- OF THE HUNT teresting outside.” The hall was dec- alize that it was a two-edged sword, orated with ice sculptures of an eagle because by doing so they allowed and a globe, as well as a mural of people from outside the country to THE JOY OF Jong Il Peak on Mount Baekdu, the interact with their own people, and supposed birthplace of Kim Jong Il. I to have an influence,” he said. “It LOW PRICES could hear the low hum of a wordless was so long lasting that eventually melody. Offering me a cappuccino, the people in power found them- one of the servers said that the song selves out of power.” Asked by an- was “I Am Thinking of You,” which other reporter if he was suggesting is “about how we want our Great that the same would happen here, in General to take a rest from tirelessly North Korea, Maazel demurred. working for us.” “There are no parallels in history; I was carrying a few back issues of there are similarities. We are very Rodong Shinmun, the six-page offi- humble. We are here to cial daily newspaper, and several re- make music.” porters flocked to my table, wanting me to tell them what was written in us #8 became a familiar sight. Korean, despite the fact that there FollowingB breakfast, while the or- were translators everywhere. Al- chestra was rehearsing, the journal- most every article in the paper was ists were taken on a two-hour city either about music or Kim Jong Il’s tour. One of the translators, aware weeklong “2.16” birthday celebra- that I had written a novel, sat next tions, which culminated on Febru- to me and opened a novel called ary 16 and included visits from The Morning on the Frontier. Regard- various delegations representing less of his motives, I felt happy to Palestine, Bangladesh, Laos, Cuba, see him reading a book, and I hoped and Uzbekistan. On February 24, an that a conversation about it would editorial entitled, “Juche is the life divert us from this endless jostling of our music,” expounded Kim Jong for information. His job was to Il’s position on music as a political watch me and record my every mis- tool. On February 25, the front- step, and my mission was not so dis- page article was titled, “South Kore- similar. I was curious about the nov- ans applaud Great General Kim el he was holding, and I wanted to Jong Il’s artistic genius,” and it list- know whether he was enjoying it. ed a few of the countless books he Handing it to me, he said, “Read has authored: On Fine Art, On the the first paragraph and see how the Art of Drama, On the Art of Dance, book shows our Eternal Great On the Art of Cinema, and On the Leader’s bravery and the sacrifice he Art of Music. This morning, Febru- made for us.” ary 26, there was an article on the As we arrived at Mansudae, the overseas popularity of such classic sixty-five-foot bronze statue of Kim North Korean hits as “The Song of Il Sung that we’d skipped on the General Kim Jong Il” and “Without way from the airport, a group of You, There’s No Country.” On page North Koreans walked up the steps Daedalus 4, below a column entitled, “Our to bow and offer their bouquets. I music, our way,” was a photo of the had happened upon a similar scene Books Philharmonic’s arrival and a three- during my last trip, and it had line description. seemed as curiously timed then as it At the Philharmonic’s press brief- did now. Everyone appeared to be The Best Browse ing later that day, I asked whether watching everyone at all times. The this concert had anything to do guides and the translators followed in Bargain Books with the 2.16 celebrations, which us as we studied their people. Trail- typically feature foreign artists per- ing us were the North Korean re- forming for the Great Leader. The porters, including twenty-seven- For a free catalog call dates were so close that the event year-old Hwang Eun Jong, who 1.800.395.2665 salebooks.com

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echoed what the Chosun Central voked to arouse nationalism, since forties with a shaved head and a Television reporter had told me most Koreans have not forgotten compact build, said, “I’m here to when we first arrived at the that the United States created the learn conversational English because Pyongyang airport. “I have no hard 38th Parallel. I have so many foreign students that feelings for the American people. In August 1945, Truman and Stal- I want to communicate with.” I We are dongbangyaeuijiguk and will in joined forces to liberate Korea asked him who these foreigners liv- treat our guests with respect.” from thirty-six years of Japanese rule ing in Pyongyang were, but Manager At our next stop, the Grand and divided the country into two Kim again interceded and People’s Study Hall, I ran into a few temporary occupation zones on ei- pulled me away. patrons who were on a separate ther side of the 38th Parallel, which tour. We were staying at different was chosen by U.S. military planners The final tour was a one-stop hotels, and our movements depend- Dean Rusk (later secretary of state ride in an empty subway car. We ed on our guides and our designated under Kennedy and Johnson) and were waiting to depart from Bu- buses; with no email and no Charles Bonesteel. The Soviets and heung (“Revival”) station, which phones, we had no idea what any- the Americans set up their preferred was devoid of people, but I could one outside of our own group was governments in the two zones, with hear a faint recording of “I Am Hap- doing. So it was refreshing to see Kim Il Sung, the anti-Japanese guer- py,” a song about finding happiness some familiar faces, but before I rilla leader, in the North and the within the cradle of the Great could say hello the patrons were led American-educated Syngman Rhee Leader. I had been taken on this ex- away by their guides. in the South. When the North in- act subway route during my last On the main floor of the Study vaded the South in 1950, Korea did visit. The thing about revisiting Hall, several young people were not really belong to Koreans. Today, Pyongyang—despite what seemed to hunched over a dozen computers. North Koreans are taught that the be a brighter and warmer facade, as Except for the framed quotes by Kim United States engineered the war though somebody somewhere had Jong Il covering the walls, the hall and that the South launched the first turned a knob one notch higher—is could have been a public library attack. As Manager Kim put it to that everything is on repeat. The anywhere in the world. Baek Hyang me, “The Soviets went home in sites one is allowed to see are the Lan, a senior at Kim Il Sung Uni- 1948, but the Americans are still in same. The images all bear the faces of versity, was looking up the Great the South today, so who has more at the father and the son. The songs re- Leader’s writings. When I asked her stake in keeping us apart?” cycle the same chorus. Having spent why she was here instead of at her Rather than waiting for my re- the past week with the orchestra, college library, she said, “This facility sponse, Manager Kim began to tell subjected to their own mantras of is free, as are all our educational in- me that the Study Hall had been de- “historic journey” and “cultural stitutions. I’m very lucky.” Exhibiting signed by Kim Il Sung and con- diplomacy,” I paused in that under- none of the shyness one might ex- structed by Kim Jong Il. He claimed ground station, whose only color be- pect of people in a country where that the building held 30 million longed to the Kim Il Sung mural on foreign reporters are a rarity, she books, 60 percent of which were for- the wall, and was seized by nausea. countered, “Are they free where you eign titles such as Gone With the When the train arrived at Yongg- are from?” The only time she hesitat- Wind, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and the wang (“Glory”) station, the platform ed was when I asked her whether she works of Sidney Sheldon.2 Over was filled with a crowd. It wasn’t could log on to the Internet, at 10,000 people stopped in daily for clear where they had come from. which point Kim Seung Ki, the man- research and complimentary classes. The guides didn’t stop me as I ran af- ager of the Study Hall, intruded with, Currently in session was an English ter a young woman in a fashionable “What nonsense! If we needed it, of lesson by an energetic teacher be- pink parka and jeans. She identified course we could connect to the Inter- fore a roomful of eager students, herself as Lee Eun Ju, a nineteen- net. But the Internet won’t bring who seemed oblivious to the click- year-old student from Kim Chaek about unification.” ing cameras. For a moment, I felt University. With a face free of Whenever my questions strayed like we were in a zoo, looking at the makeup and shoulder-length hair beyond a cordial greeting, the con- North Koreans on display. A few re- neatly pulled back with a white versation inevitably turned to unifi- porters recognized the teacher, Choi headband, she was the picture of an cation. It is a safe topic, because Hyang Mi, from a 2004 Dutch docu- ideal youth. She said that she was on there is only one right opinion. I had mentary, North Korea: A Day in the her way to meet a friend at the sub- grown up in South Korea singing a Life, in which she taught an almost way exit. When I asked her where song called “Our Wish Is Unifica- identical English lesson. Sitting in they were headed afterward, she tion.” The desire for “one Korea” re- the front row, Park Chul Su, a tae wouldn’t answer, and my repeated mains rooted in the Korean psyche, kwon do instructor in his mid- questions about the social life of though the generation that remem- Pyongyang’s youth were met with a bers the war is mostly gone and the 2 The U.S. Library of Congress, recognized shy smile. I relented and inquired in- prospects for unification are increas- as the largest library in the world, holds 21 stead about her thoughts on the ingly remote. Unification is often in- million books. Philharmonic’s visit, to which she

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immediately replied, “I have no hard imposed on us by the Superpower. Il.” They listened impassively as feelings for the American people. I We are dongbangyaeuijiguk and will Maazel explained that the three am looking forward to watching the treat our guests with respect. But works featured tonight—by Dvorˇák, concert on TV.” Finally, I asked soon we will become a strong and Gershwin, and Bernstein—had what her major was. She answered powerful country under the guid- been premiered by the Philharmon- “Music.” I wondered at the coinci- ance of our Great Leader.” When I ic. Maazel’s attempt at saying “Have dence that the one person I picked asked him where he had purchased a good time!” in Korean got the ex- from the crowd turned out to be a his ticket and at what price, the pected laughs. The eventual re- student of music. professor fidgeted. “I just got it from quests for encores came across as As the escalator reached the side- an acquaintance,” he said. I asked perfunctory and automatic. The au- walk, we faced a busy intersection the same question of a woman clad dience seemed unruffled when opposite the Pyongyang train sta- in a sequined hanbok, who mumbled Maazel walked off the stage while tion. A tram was passing with a load that “someone gave it” to her. The the orchestra played Leonard Bern- of people inside. I saw a Pyonghwa others, who claimed to be either stein’s overture to Candide, a bizarre Motors billboard like the one along performers or students of music, re- ritual that Maazel explained was to the road from the airport, this one fused to answer the question and make room for the spirit of his pre- featuring the “Whistle” car. Bus #8 ended the conversation without a decessor. If the audience noticed was parked nearby, and the guides reply. A representative from the the parallel between Maazel’s trib- were beckoning to us. The girl I had Korean Association for Art Ex- ute to the dead maestro forever liv- been talking to a minute change stopped me. “If you want to ing within the orchestra’s heart and before was gone. talk to our people, we will select their own worship of the Eternal ones for you.” Great Leader, they didn’t show it as Shortly before 6:00 P.M. that Inside the theater, there were they politely smiled and clapped. evening, rows of men in dark suits none of the usual sounds of pre- Only once did I see the young man and women in outdated hanbok be- concert chatter. No one had donned next to me wince. This was during gan streaming into the white marble the party uniform, even though the introduction to Gershwin’s An lobby of the East Pyongyang Grand there were said to be several party American in Paris, when Maazel de- Theater. They seemed to know ex- officials among the 1,400 audience clared, “Someday a composer may actly which door to walk through, members, including Pak Kwan O, write a work entitled Americans even though there was no sign des- chairman of the Pyongyang City in Pyongyang.” ignating a separate entrance from People’s Committee, and Song Sok After Candide, the Philharmonic the one used by foreigners. The Hwan, vice-minister of culture. I began to play something that wasn’t seventy-five journalists had been was seated between a translator and on the program. The men on either brought to the theater two hours a pair of men in their mid-twenties, side of me seemed to know exactly earlier for a press conference, which who were dressed in immaculate what it was, which surprised me, had suddenly been added to the suits and Nike sneakers. They because I didn’t recognize the itinerary. We waited anxiously in seemed nervous and were sitting melody right away. Within a beat the briefing room while preparations stiffly in their seats, as though they of the first note, the translator for the concert took place outside. were here for an exam. One of the whispered, “Do you know what this When the minister of culture failed young men leaned over and whis- is?” It took me a little while, be- to show up after more than an hour, pered something to the other, only cause “Arirang” is almost always some of the reporters grumbled that to be hushed. I scanned the faces in sung in a traditional chang style. It the whole thing had been a ruse to the crowd, but I couldn’t decipher is a folk song that all Koreans learn, keep us from wandering off and ask- their expressions. A few gave me re- and each region has its own ver- ing questions. luctant smiles but quickly looked sion. The one that the Philharmon- We left the briefing room to find away when I held our gaze for longer ic chose was the popular “Bonjo the lobby bustling with foreign dig- than a few seconds. “Are concerts lit Arirang” from the Seoul region, nitaries. The North Koreans did not like this back in America?” the arranged for orchestra by the North linger as they walked straight into translator asked. I shook my head, Korean composer Choi Sung Hwan the theater, but I managed to get a glancing at the TV cameras aimed in 1976. It was also the same ver- few of them to speak to me. No at the Stars and Stripes and the sion adopted by the U.S. 7th In- matter what I asked, all five people North Korean Ingonggi on either fantry Division in South Korea as I spoke to brought up the “Arduous side of the stage. “Here neither,” he its official marching song. March,” using the North Korean said. “We usually do it the way you The music sounded pleasant Workers’ Party euphemism for the do it.” enough, but it had little to do with mid-1990s famine that reportedly The audience rose for both na- the “Arirang” that we, the Koreans in killed 2.5 million. An elderly pro- tional anthems, though “Aegukka” the audience, knew. For an Ameri- fessor of music, who would not re- (“Patriotic Song”) is hardly used by can, it would be akin to hearing veal his name, said, “We have sur- North Koreans, whose real anthem “Yankee Doodle” arranged for vived the Arduous March that was is “The Song of General Kim Jong gayagum, a Korean string instrument.

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The Koreans around me appeared Disneyland and pleading with the sending seventy-five journalists to amused, if not somewhat puzzled. actress playing Cinderella to tell us cover what was, in the Later, I read report after report of about something other than her end, just a concert. the audience being moved to tears at missing slipper. We must have that moment. The CNN headline thought that if we asked enough At the banquet that night, Zarin read, “Music diplomacy draws tears times, they might finally break Mehta repeated the phrase “I’m over . . .” The New York Times coverage de- down and tell us what was really on the moon.” It was not clear whether scribed how “tears began forming in their minds. There we were, a dele- Maazel, too, was over the moon, but the eyes of the staid audience.” The gation that included the oldest upon returning to America, he would MBC news swore that there was evi- American orchestra—or as Eric appear on a number of talk shows to say dence of this in film clips and later Latzky claimed, “the greatest orches- that average North Koreans saw and called me repeatedly to vouch for it. I tra in the world”—an orchestra that heard the concert, and he would blog read that a South Korean actress, Son never would have passed up a about how South Koreans told him Suk, who was seated in the VIP sec- chance to play their beloved that “70 million Koreans will love you tion, cried. She said that she did in Dvorˇák, Gershwin, and Bernstein; forever!” CNN showed its anchor several interviews afterward. I met a that never would have imagined watching the concert on TV with a retired Korean-American minister that the audience might not be im- North Korean family in their living from Binghamton who had traveled pressed by their beloved Dvorˇák, room, thus proving to the world that to Pyongyang for the 2.16 celebra- Gershwin, and Bernstein; that never this pre-selected family had access to tions and ended up at the concert would have considered how their a live broadcast of the event. The head courtesy of his hosting organization. beloved Dvorˇák, Gershwin, and of Radio Free North Korea, Kim Sung He admitted that he found himself Bernstein here in this land of the Min, later told me that according to his choked up at several moments. I also Great Leader might sound as incon- sources, a clip of the Philharmonic’s heard about a South Korean reporter gruous as “The Song of General Kim rendition of “Arirang” was spliced into who claimed to have been nearly Jong Il” would sound to our ears. a North Korean documentary about brought to tears, but by the sound of How could we have expected to the “Arirang” Festival, a commemo- Dvorˇák, not “Arirang.” I myself did learn something that wasn’t in the ration of Kim Il Sung’s birth, which not witness any tears nor did any for- program? From the orchestra’s per- took place seven weeks after the Phil- eign correspondent to whom I later formance to the audience’s applause harmonic’s departure. As for the ra- spoke. The musicians, including to the bright lights of Pyongyang— dio broadcast, no verification surfaced Michelle Kim, gave a press confer- everything had been exquisitely afterward, except for a U.S. State De- ence about their own emotional staged, not only by the North Kore- partment internal memo reporting that crying-fest. an regime but also by the New York at the time of the performance, Until the finale of “Arirang” and Philharmonic. The real audience Pyongyang Radio aired two programs: the subsequent standing ovation, our turned out to be the media, whose “Dangerous U.S. War Strategy Against delegation had remained largely role from the beginning was to bear Korea” and “Who Is the Ringleader skeptical. Everyone agreed that what witness to the whole production. Intensifying Tension?” they were allowed to see could not It seemed peculiarly American of All of this would be revealed later. have been how things actually were. the Philharmonic never to fathom But at the banquet following the The overheated hotel rooms and that they might not be liked by concert, the only thing anybody garish banquets did not convince those in dire need of economic and wanted to do was celebrate. Mehta them. The brightly lit skyline re- humanitarian assistance—that the proposed a toast to his orchestra: minded them of the lack of electrici- North Koreans’ tears, if they did in- “To the best in the world.” The ty in the rest of the country. They deed shed tears, might signal not North Korean vice-minister of cul- questioned the validity of the ticket gratitude but humiliation. North Ko- ture, Song Sok Hwan, said that the sales and the real identities of the reans might politely endure an Philharmonic “opened the hearts of audience members. Yet their skepti- American presence and even court the Korean people.” Latzky an- cism faltered when they considered its company for their survival, but nounced that the DVD of the con- music’s power to move the audience. nothing short of a responsible Amer- cert would soon be available for Everyone seemed to measure the ican foreign policy would change the $24.99. No one mentioned the ab- success of this concert by fact that for fifty-five years they have sence of the Great Leader. After- the North Koreans’ tears. despised the United States and its ward, the foreign correspondents left politics. Maazel’s casual reference to the banquet hall to buy up the hotel Once the concert was over, sev- “Americans in Pyongyang” betrayed gift shop’s stock of the English edi- eral reporters ran to catch the audi- an astounding lack of consideration tion of Kim Jong Il’s The Great ence members, who were swiftly fil- for Korea’s colonial past, as though Teacher of Journalists. Meanwhile, ing out in an orderly fashion, just as he and his orchestra were landing on the orchestra partied in Markus the orchestra had. I wondered why the moon and hoisting the Stars and Rhoten’s suite on the thirty-eighth we kept asking questions. Our at- Stripes for the world to see. The in- floor, overlooking Pyongyang’s rapid- tempts were not unlike walking into ternational media did their part by ly darkening sky. ■

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