Posted on 12/12/2015 2:30:20 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
(2nd LD) N. Korean band's performance in Beijing canceled: theater
2015/12/12 19:08
BEIJING, Dec. 12 (Yonhap) -- Performances by North Korea's all-female propaganda band in Beijing were canceled, an official at a Chinese theater said Saturday, with members of the band abruptly heading back to Pyongyang.
The Moranbong Band had been scheduled to perform for three days in Beijing from Saturday, in an apparent sign of warming relations between the two countries.
"The performance was canceled," said the official at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing. The official declined to give his name.
Officials at China's foreign ministry were not immediately available for comments on Saturday.
Chinese and Japanese media reports say members of the North Korean band were seen departing for Pyongyang earlier in the day.
It was not immediately known why the North Korean band returned home hours before the performance was to begin.
The band's "friendship performances," described by North Korea's state media, were seen as the latest sign that Pyongyang is trying to mend ties with Beijing after years of strain following the North's third nuclear test in early 2013.
Since Liu Yunshan, the Chinese Communist Party's fifth-ranked official, visited Pyongyang in October and held talks with North Korean leader Kim, there have been signs of improvement in bilateral ties.
The band, known for its interpretive performances of the totalitarian state's propaganda songs and Western pop music, including the "Theme from Rocky," was formed in 2012 following an order by North Korea's young leader Kim Jong-un.
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