Reunification of the Korean Peninsula - Angels from Pyongyang

Angels from Pyongyang Julian Gray to believe I was meant to go. Seoul, Korea Inside the rather magnifi- cent Seoul Arts Center Opera

I N OURbusy lives we sometimes fail House, my seat was closer to to appreciate the quiet gift of God the front than I had expected. I when it is bestowed. So it was when could see the Little Angels, I found myself the lucky recipient of a dressed in their quaint red, white ticket to attend the final performance of and blue costumes,fillingup the the Pyongyang Children and Students front rows, as if to offer special Performing Arts Troupe in Seoul on encouragement to their northern guests. May 28th. The kindly Korean grandmother sitting The allocation for public sale for all next to me asked me where I was from. the Ministry of Defense offered me the .the performances had been sold out in Her country had been tom in half as if simplistic explanation that such per- two hours, and there were very few by two hungry wolves when she was formers are like trained circus animals. complimentary ones even for the most about the same age as the girls and But this relic of the peninsula’s decades senior among our members. It was a boys who were about to take the stage. old propaganda war (a war in which a wonderful opportuni~ this I knew, yet The kindly sparkle in her eye gave me ceasefire has now been called by both I hesitated to take up a seat that I felt the feeling it had been right to come. sides!) missed the point entirel~ as he should really be filled by a citizen from Then the curtain went up and that was would have known had he been there. I these shores. Yet a voice inside led me quickly confirmed. told him so. Up to that point I had beensome- Excellence in any of the arts requires what melanchol~ wonderingif my ten total commitment, self-discipline and years in Korea looking mostly out to sacrifice. I am sure that these North the world mission field had left me iso- Korean children had embraced all three lated from the anguished history of my of the above to a level that might intim- host country. Would I be able to connect idate many of us. Ironically, such a way with the inevitably emotional content of of life is not so dissimilar to thepath of the evening,I wondered.As it turned spiritual growth accordingto the Princi- out, we Unificationists are more Korean ple that True Parents have asked us to than we think. walk. “Direct dominion” in the arts is As the first group of real, live North surely arrived at when the technical Korean children-they looked just the mastery has become second nature same as the ones that live here in the (always through grueling effort), and South!-ran out onto the stage to sing the artist becomes free to interpret, cre- and dance, I felt a surge of emotion that . ate and express personality and emo- seemed to come from somewhere tion through the art form. The beyond myself. It was as if something Pyongyang Children and Students Per- divinely inspired was about to happen. formingArts Troupehad a powerful From the point of view of the artistry effecton all of us becausethey achieved alone, this was an uplifting, and touch- this sovisibly. Thelove of their arts, ing demonstration of formidable talent. their close relationship with their pur- From the outset to the finale the virtu- pose to bring joy was manifest. They osity was unquestionable. There was infused their singing, playing and danc- mastery of the musical arts that had me ing with their individual personalities wondering how people so tender in and collective culture.And we in the years could have had time to develop audience were transfixed in our seats such mind-body synergy. by their enthusiasm, joyfulness, and, There are those that give the easy without doubt, their eagerness to com- answer, which is that the North Korean municate with us, “We are warm-blood- training ethic is state-sponsored, mili- ed boys and girls too!” taristic and unrelenting. Yes, I am sure It is a little hard to describe the per- they had worked extremely hard. A formance in a way that could bring it to few days later, at a function in Seoul life for the reader. The dance pieces attended by many diplomats and gov- were beautifully and imaginatively ernment officials, a young man from choreographed. The singing was fasci-

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Photos: facing page top, the reunion of two friends, one from nating, partly also due to the youth of the singers (one as the North and one from the South, who became friends in young as five years old) and the haunting, slightly nasal style 1998 when the Little Angels visited North Korea; left, their of the North Korean vocalists. arrival at Kimpo Airport, May 24; below, leaving the Little There was a group of five accordion players who played a Angels school for the hotel at Lotte World following the form of what I can only describe as modem jazz with perfect welcoming ceremony; this page, the performance covered an synchronization, the young musicians’ fingers blurred with array of traditional and modern music and dance styles the speed at which they flew over the keys and stops. Three kayagum,usually heard rendering more ballad-like, slow paced traditional music, were played with what sounded more reminiscent of a rich-toned banjo roll than the music of the king’s court! More recognizably traditional music there was too, and this was rendered with deep feeling. At one point two dancers drew back a small curtain to reveal a mirror and then danced in front of it. I thought, “Aha, their ‘reflections’ are two other people!” After two or three minutes of dancing, however, I could not even minutely dis- cern that the two mirror images were anything other than that. So when the reflections did suddenly jump out of the mirror onto the stage, the gasp from everyone in the audience confirmed that it was not my eyes that had deceived me. A young drummer boy captured us with his mastery of the traditional Korean jangoohourglass drum. His face was adorned with an engaging smile, and he would cock his hip as he launched into his drum solos. Although a newspaper here described the little man as “swaggering” it mentioned the cheers and applause he received. Completely one with his art, he beamed out into the audience with his cheeky nine-year-old’s grin, and gave everything of himself. It was so endearing, funny, full of life. Like all of those who per- formed, his talent was the vehicle to convey his heart, and that of his country. Both traditional Korean instruments and modem western instruments were played with an equally native touch. I wondered if they had put an emphasis on a more internation- al style knowing they were reaching out beyond their own walls, and even beyond the shores of the peninsula. If the succession of front page photographs in the Seoul major dailies was any indication, their visit was a landmark event in warming the heart of the South. The timing, just two weeks before the North-South Korean summit, filled one with the sense of the unfolding dispensation of Heaven. Overall even there were visible differences in the North and South Korean approach to traditional music and dance, as if the cultures have slightly diverged over more than half a century of separation. It was evident in the colors of the cos- tumes, and in the style of the traditional music and dance. But it was no less magnificent a cultural monument. As I watched the children perform, I wondered if perhaps somewhere in the audience there might be a grandmother or great aunt of one of the performers, separated by decades of silence and unknown to each other. The feeling that these children were long lost relatives seemed to be taking hold of the audience collectively; I felt it too. At one point a female singer in her early teens came down from the stage and walked down the aisle as she sang, hold- ing hands with those seated within range and receiving hugs in return. An atmosphere charged with emotion descended upon the entire hall. It was as if a portal was opened up to a realm of intense longing in the spirit world, a realm that per- haps only in such circumstances as these could. find expres- sion. I had a sense of being swept up in feelings that belonged to a people and a history I had not been born part of. Yet at that moment it was as if we were all of the same blood and inheritance. Everyone seemed to be experiencing CONTINUED ON PAGE 19…

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this together. Here and there, people in the audience were weeping quietly. If one needed further convincing of the closeness of the spirit world, one need- ed only to have been present at this occasion. The young lady singer’s presence among the audience was like North Korea extending its very heart into the South in a deeply personal, intimate way. One lady even stood up and, seemingly unable to restrain herself to being part of the audience, danced in the aisle with the young singer. She then followed her back up onto the stage (to the consternation of the securi- ty people!) where they did a little Kore- an traditional dance together for a few moments. No harm was done, and I dare say quite a bit of good: she was interviewed in the press and said, “I couldn’t stop myself.” Following an unforgettable hour- and-a-half, we reached the finale of the evening-and of the performances as a whole. While all the performers gath- ered on the stage, we all stood and sang “Uri-e sowon-untongil…”together. After a few lines we all joined hands, and it felt as if a circle was complete. After twenty years of singing this song it is hard to describe the feeling of singing it along with thousands of Koreans, from both sides of the 38th parallel. It was as if a war had just ended and peo- ple were re-experienc- ing emotions that had been frozen during hostilities. They were singing, crying, and celebrating peace. The notion that the people of the North and South are ideologi- cal enemies seemed to dis- sipate like smoke. And it was a group of young children that had shown us grow-ups the truth..

Photos: Facing page top left, an elderly man dances with the young singer; right, one of the youngest performers; below, a performance finale; this page: saying goodbye is very hard for the children; bottom, a commemorative photo in front of the official farewell banner at Kimpo Airport; inset, Hui Choi, director of the Pyongyang performing arts troupe (at left), and Sang Sup Yoon, Pyeonghwa Motors deputy director, together at the conclusion of the final evening

ed by waving their hands to say “Thank W hen True Parents met with Kim II Sung on December 6, 1991, an S eventy-six membersof the LittleAngels Troupe came to the airport to greet their friends from Pyongyang. They gave gar- you.” Despite the two hour airplane jour- ney, they seemed very excited, looking out agreement was forged to work toward lands to each one. Some of the members of the windows full of curiosi~ observing peace and cooperation between the South from the Pyongyang Troupe and Little the sights of Seoul… and North. To that end, in May 1998, the Angels Troupe recognized each other and Each performance started with a little Little Angels visited and performed in girl greeting the audience: “I had no idea hugged each other with the joy of reunion. North Korea. The Pyongyang Children and After the welcoming event, they traveled how close the South was: it was always a Students Performing Arts Troupe returned from the Little Angels Hall to Lotte Hotel in distant place in my mind. I hope the grand- the visit in May this year, completing the Chamshil, eastern Seoul. Citizens noticed mothers, grandfathers, fathers, mothers, first private cultural exchange since the the three buses full of the Pyongyang per- elder sisters and elder brothers in Seoul will country’s division, and bringing hope for formers and stopped their cars to welcome enjoy our performance. If our performances reunification of the Korean people. them with applause. The children respond- are pleasing to you, please do not hesitate to applaud!… The performance seemed to transcend the differences between the two Koreas’ . political constitutions and ideologies. The ninety-minute performance ended with the song of ‘Our Hope Is Unity.’ The perform- ers and the audience sang it together many times with tears in their eyes. At that moment they were all united. An elderly man whose hometown was in North Korea tried to grasp the hands of the performers as if it would mean touching the hands of his own grandchildren in the North… At the end of the final performance, the curtain opened and closed six more times responding to the audience’s cries of “Let’s meet again.”. Excerpted from a report in Tongil Segye, the monthly magazine of FFWPU in Korea

“We have promoted this event to create a mood of celebration for the summit between South and North Korea, and to prepare a new basis for economic and cultural exchange. This will be a signalannouncinga new beginning between South and North, through the pure and clear image of children.” Sang Kwon Park, President of Pyeonghwa Motors, at a press conference on May 23

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