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Slovenian band Laibach to hold concerts in N. Korea next month

July 14, 2015

(Courtesy of www.laibach.org)

SEOUL (Yonhap) — North Korea has unveiled a rare tour program that includes two-day concerts by Slovenian band Laibach in Pyongyang next month for foreign tourists, a Beijing-based tour company said Tuesday.

Koryo Tours, which takes about 2,500 Western tourists to North Korea a year, has made public a tourist program on its website that includes two concerts by Laibach on Aug. 19-20 in Pyongyang, the first performance of its kind in the North.

The concerts will take place twice at the Kim Won Gyun musical conservatory to mark the 70th anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule, it said.

The five-day tour package that starts Aug. 18 will also contain visits to main attractions in Pyongyang and the border city of Kaesong, it added.

Laibach, whose visual style is suggestive of Nazi-era propaganda, said on its website that its main mission is to give a chance to many North Koreans to enjoy its music, but the members are working hard to ensure that foreign visitors can watch the concerts as well.

Koryo Tours also added that the “final itinerary may differ slightly” as the matters related to the Laibach concerts are subject to final approval by relevant North Korean authorities.

North Korea is ramping up efforts to attract foreign tourists as a set of sanctions by the United Nations and Western countries make it difficult for Pyongyang to earn hard currency.