US tries musical diplomacy

2008-02-26 14:57

Seoul - Former US defence secretary William Perry said Tuesday's New York Philharmonic concert in North Korea "might just have pushed us over the top" in resolving the standoff over Pyongyang's nuclear programme.

"We have had our governments talk to each other for years," Perry told journalists after attending the landmark performance.

"We think we are, we hope we are, near a resolution now, but there is still a lot of mistrust, still a lot of suspicion.

Universal language

"And then a wonderful thing happened: our two governments started to allow the American people to speak to the Korean people, and speak in a universal language that required no interpretation, the musical language of music.

"And this might just have pushed us over the top... I won't go as far as to say I think so, but I hope so," he said. "In any event, it was a sublime moment."

Perry, who was secretary of defence from 1994 to 1997, added: "Back in 1994 we were close to war. I knew exactly what that meant. Nobody ever wanted that.

"In '94 we were not talking with each other and now we're talking and that's a big move forward."

The New York Philharmonic touched down in North Korea on Monday, aiming to use the music of George Gershwin and Antonin Dvorak to break down barriers between the communist nation and the United States.

'Regime is still the regime'

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice praised the sounds of Beethoven at South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak's inauguration ceremony on Monday, as music gave a twist to diplomacy across the peninsula.

"It was a really wonderful and moving ceremony this morning - a beautiful speech by the president," Rice told reporters in Seoul.

"And, of course, it's always great to hear the universal strings of Beethoven performed so beautifully by the choir and orchestra," said Rice, who was herself an aspiring concert pianist in her youth.

Rice - touring South Korea, China and Japan in a bid to revive negotiations to denuclearise North Korea - has welcomed the concert in Pyongyang but cautioned against expectations it would bring groundbreaking change.

"From my point of view, it's a good thing that the Philharmonic is going, but the North Korean regime is still the North Korean regime," she said before the start of her Asia tour.

"And so I don't think we should get carried away with what listening to Dvorak is going to do in North Korea."

Give musical diplomacy a chance

Christopher Hill, her chief negotiator on the North Korean nuclear issue, was ready to give musical diplomacy a chance.

"You know, sometimes the North Koreans don't like our words; maybe they'll like our music. So we'll see," Hill told reporters here last week.

North Korea has no diplomatic ties with the United States, which fought for South Korea in the 1950-53 Korean War. About 28 000 US troops are stationed in the South to deter any new invasion by the North.

- AFP