The Moranbong Band and Regime

Consolidation in the DPRK

Adam CathcartLeeds University

a.cathcart@leeds.ac.uk

Source: Bundesarchiv, Berilin – SAMPO, circa 1951

Research Themes North Korean musical diplomacy (2013). “North Korea’s Cultural Diplomacy in the Early Kim Jong-un Era,” with

Steven Denney, North Korean (2009). “North Korean Hip Hop? Reflections on Musical Diplomacy and the DPRK,” Acta Koreana, Vol. 12, No. 2 (December): 1–19.

(2009). “North Korean Hip Hop? Reflections on Musical Diplomacy and the DPRK,” Acta Koreana, Vol. 12, No. 2 (December): 1–19.

North Korean music & influences since 1945

(2008). “Internationalist Culture in North Korea, 1945–1950,” with Charles Kraus, Review of Korean Studies Vol. 11, No. 3 (September) 123–148.  

(2008). “Song of Youth: North Korean Music from Liberation to War,” North Korean Review, Vol. 4, No. 1 (Fall), 93–104.

North Korean leadership & purges (2015). “’Kim Jong-un Syndrome’: North Korean Commemorative Culture and the

Succession Process,” SOAS-AKS Working Papers in Korean Studies, no. 44 (London: School of Oriental and African Studies, March).

(2014). “In the Shadow of Jang Song-taek: Pyongyang’s Evolving SEZ Strategy with the Hwanggumpyeong and Wihwa Islands,” Korea Economic Institute of America Academic Paper Series, Vol. 8 (June),

Research Themes 　 (II) Co-authored work with Pekka

Korhonen Two journal manuscripts under peer review at present

Sources Online archive of musical

performances, 2010-

North Korean defector interviews Funded via Academy of Korean Studies, “Contested Korean Identities on the

Peninsula and in Northeast China,” project.

Attendance at DPRK music performances

Participation in rehearsals of North Korean musicians (2x)

Performance of Moranbong Band music for North Korean diplomats at the British Council

Sources Arranging and performance of DPRK

music for cello and piano https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvcgcKm7xek

The “Sea of Blood” Opera in China

Source: Chengdu Daily, June 2012

Contentions Musicians are a key element in the

composition of “the North Korean elite”

The Moranbong Band is the vehicle for a limited cosmopolitanism in the DPRK

Music plays an important role in consolidating self-perception of the regime & in DPRK’s foreign media strategy

Musical ensembles not be an ideal yardstick for measuring internal turmoil – “musical chairs”

Returned Defector Pak Jong-suk with her son, identified as a conservatory professor in

Pyongyang, at her return press conference, May 2012.

Kim Jong-un & the Band, 2015

Ri Sol-ju, First Lady & Former Performer w/ Unhasu

Orchestra

Sonu Hyang-hui, former concertmaster of Moranbong Band

Mun Kyong-jin, former concertmaster of Unhasu Orchestra

Contentions (repeated) Musicians are a key element in the

composition of “the North Korean elite”

The Moranbong Band is the vehicle for a limited cosmopolitanism in the DPRK

Musical ensembles not be an ideal yardstick for measuring internal turmoil – “musical chairs”

Music plays an important role in consolidating self-perception of the regime & in DPRK’s foreign media strategy