South Korea agreed Tuesday to send an art troupe to North Korea later this month for shows in Pyongyang after officials from the two countries met at the demilitarized zone dividing the two Koreas to arrange for the group's visit.
The roughly 160-strong group consisting mostly of singers will visit the North between March 31 and April 3 for two shows, and include pop legend Cho Yong Pil and Seohyun, a member of the popular K-pop girl group "Girls' Generation," according to the South Korean government.
Heading the delegation from the South for Tuesday's talks was Yun Sang, a composer who has been tapped as the music director for the group, while the North Korean side was represented by Hyong Song Wol, head of the all-female Moranbong Band.
The working-level meeting was held at the Tongilgak building on the North Korean-controlled side of the border village of Panmunjeom.
When South Korean presidential envoys visited Pyongyang in early March, North Korea invited a South Korean art troupe and taekwando demonstration team to perform in Pyongyang.
A North Korean art troupe called the Samjiyon Orchestra staged a concert in Gangneung in eastern South Korea and another in Seoul on the occasion of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in the South in February.
The South Korean government had sounded out Cho about performing in Pyongyang, according to local media. Cho gave a performance in the capital in 2005.
