Members of North Korean pop group Moranbong Band leave a hotel for a rehearsal in Beijing, China, 11 December 2015. Moranbong Band is the latest (an
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Imaginechina Limited / Alamy Stock PhotoImage ID:
W8C9PMFile size:
17.2 MB (627.3 KB Compressed download)Releases:
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3000 x 2000 px | 25.4 x 16.9 cm | 10 x 6.7 inches | 300dpiDate taken:
11 December 2015Photographer:
ImaginechinaMore information:
Members of North Korean pop group Moranbong Band leave a hotel for a rehearsal in Beijing, China, 11 December 2015. Moranbong Band is the latest (and maybe the only) soft-power export from North Korea. It is the favorite group of Kim Jong-un, the nation's young authoritarian leader ª and some reports say he handpicked each member. Mr. Kim's wife, Ri Sol-ju, who once sang in a band herself, is believed to be a patron. Moranbong has been dispatched to Beijing at a time when China and North Korea are trying to improve relations amid differences about the North's nuclear ambitions and other economic and political matters. On Wednesday (9 December 2015), the young women boarded a train in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital. They arrived the next day in Beijing. Paparazzi photographs posted online showed band members being whisked through the streets on a bus, dressed in old-school socialist fashion: furry hats with a red star and long olive military-style winter coats. But the women are expected to don much sexier outfits ª out of the ordinary for North Korean women, who tend to dress modestly ª when they appear over three nights at the National Center for the Performing Arts, the egg-shaped concert hall west of Tiananmen Square. A North Korean state choral group is also on the program. All three concerts are invitation-only events. Party officials are expected to attend, and some state work groups and ministry employees have been offered free tickets.
