From April 11th to April 17th, 1971 a group of Americans were invited to play ping pong in China. Dubbed ping pong diplomacy, it helped improve U.S.-China relations. In fact, on April 14th of that year the United States announced it would end it's trade embargo with China. One year later Nixon made his infamous trip to China. In another attempt to utilize American soft power, the New York Philharmonic orchestra arrived in Pyongyang yesterday. The orchestra played on Tuesday night (which due to the time difference has already ended) and was broadcasted on North Korea's state-run TV and radio.
Playing a concert may seem ho-hum here, however in North Korea one can be thrown in jail for listening to a foreign broadcast. What's more, North Koreans are now more likely to hear foreign broadcasts as a result of trade with China:
"Activists working to improve human rights in North Korea largely agree that there is a unique window of opportunity at this time.
One reason is the growing availability of radios. The short-wave radios sold in North Korea are relatively expensive, come fixed to state-run stations, and must be registered with the authorities. However, thanks to a growing cross-border trade with China, much of it unofficial, cheap AM radios are proliferating in North Korea — along with used videotape players that Chinese seek to sell when they upgrade to DVD players.
There's anecdotal evidence that one-third or more of the population has access to AM radios that can be freely tuned to nongovernment stations, according to Mr. Lefkowitz, an estimate confirmed by other North Korea watchers. The Chinese radios are also small, which means that they are easier to hide."
While it is too soon to infer what influence the New York Philharmonic orchestra had, Musical Director Lorin Maazel can point to it's influence in the past. “It [the New York Philharmonic orchestra] showed Soviet citizens that they could have relations with foreign organizations and these organizations could come in the country freely,' he said. "But what the Soviets didn't realize was, this was a two-edged sword.'
"By allowing interactions between people from outside the country with people inside, eventually the people found themselves out of power."
In an op-ed, Maazel wrote, "I have always believed that the arts, per se, and their exponents, artists, have a broader role to play in the public arena. But it must be totally apolitical, nonpartisan and free of issue-specific agendas. It is a role of the highest possible order: bringing peoples and their cultures together on common ground, where the roots of peaceful interchange can imperceptibly but irrevocably take hold. If all goes well, the presence of the New York Philharmonic in Pyongyang might gently influence the perception of our country there. If we are gradually to improve U.S.-Korean relations, such events have the potential to nudge open a door that has been closed too long."
The New York Philharmonic orchestra may be just the first round of a new musical diplomacy. Indeed, the Guardian is reporting today that Eric Clapton has been invited to play in North Korea. As a great classic rock band once wrote, "Whoa, we got to let the music play."
