ROK violinist pushes border concert with DPRK

Violinist Won Hyung Joon wants to bring musicians from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea together next month to perform on both sides of the world's most heavily armed border.

Won says DPRK diplomats in Berlin have tentatively agreed to a plan for a German conductor to lead a 70-member ROK orchestra through Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and the Korean folk tune Arirang.

The orchestra would be accompanied by a 70-strong DPRK choir just across the border, and the performance is scheduled for Aug 15, the 70th anniversary of the 1945 liberation of Korea from Japan's 35-year colonial rule.