An American in Pyongyang

The New York Philharmonic announced today in the New York Times that it will be giving a concert in North Korea on February 26. The concert, in Pyongyang, the capital, comes at the end of the orchestra's upcoming tour of east Asia, including Hong Kong, Taiwan and China. Could this be, like Isaac Stern's trip to China just after the dismantling of the Cultural Revolution, a gesture of friendship and possibly "warmer ties" with the U.S.?

Is it appropriate considering, the article notes, North Korea's policies that have resulted, partly, in the famine-related starvation of two million people and hundreds of thousands of people in labor camps?

There's another summary of the news at playbillarts.com