Paris, France, Large Crowd people, High Angle, North Korean Symphony Orchestra "the Unhasu Orchestra" together with "Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra" Perform First Concert in Europe, under the renowned South Korean conductor Chung Myung-Whun, in Salle Playel Theater, symphony stage
PARIS (AP) — A North Korean and a French orchestra performed a landmark concert on Wednesday, adding a note of harmony to long-standing tensions between the isolated nation and the West. Under the baton of noted South Korean conductor Chung Myung-Whun, North Korea's Unhasu Orchestra and Radio France Philharmonic played to a packed house at Paris' Salle Pleyel music hall. "We are witnessing a historical moment that I hope will not be an isolated event," Radio France's first violinist Svetlin Roussev said before the concert opened, crediting "Maestro Chung" for making the joint concert possible. Chung was born in the South but his mother was from North Korea, making the concert a musical bridge toward reconciliation of a divided people. "For now, this is an experience lived through our hearts with the music expressing our feelings, our emotions," Roussev said, adding optimistically, "This could be the first stone to build on towards something that could be immense, for history and the world." Korea was split at the end of World War II into the communist North and the South. The two sides fought a three-year war that ended in a truce in 1953 but has left the Korean Peninsula divided by a heavily fortified border. Relations between North Korea and the and its allies have been tense over the years, particularly over Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions. North Korea has tested two atomic devices in the past six years. France is among Western nations that do not have official diplomatic ties with North Korea, although it opened an office in the capital Pyongyang last year to foster cultural exchanges. There have been other signs of improving relations between North Korea and Western nations."
Size: 4256px × 2831px
Location: Paris, France
Photo credit: © Directphoto Collection / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
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