米国務省、ＮＹフィルの北朝鮮公演を支援

　ガイエゴス米国務省報道室長は10日、米国を代表するオーケストラ、ニューヨーク・フィルハーモニックの北朝鮮公演が来年2月26日に決まったことを受けて「国務省は米朝間の文化交流を支援する」と表明した。ライス国務長官も米朝文化交流を後押しする考えを示しており、公演には核問題を巡る6カ国協議首席代表のヒル国務次官補が同行する可能性もある。

　ヒル次官補は今年、既に２度訪朝しているほか、北朝鮮の金桂官（キム・ゲグァン）外務次官と頻繁に協議するなど、ライス長官が指揮する国務省では米朝接近を後押しする動きが目立っている。（ワシントン＝丸谷浩史）(12:21)

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Concert Without Strings

By RICHARD V. ALLEN and CHUCK DOWNS
Published: October 28, 2007

THE New York Philharmonic is considering a performance in Pyongyang, North Korea, next February, and already the regime there has begun to behave as though the proposed concert would be a tribute rather than an act of generosity.

A final decision by the Philharmonic on whether to perform in North Korea after its China tour merits the most careful consideration. It would be a mistake to hand Kim Jong-il a propaganda coup.

For those who recall the key role that cultural exchanges played in normalizing our relationship with Communist countries during the cold war, the idea of a concert by the Philharmonic in North Korea may appear constructive. But the cold war exchanges were successful largely because Western performers were committed to artistic freedom. In 1959, when Leonard Bernstein took the Philharmonic to Moscow, he included in his program a work by Shostakovich, the popular Russian composer whose career had suffered under Stalin’s censorship. Bernstein raced through the stirring last movement of the Fifth Symphony, demonstrating that artists have license to do just that. The audience, which included Shostakovich himself, was exhilarated.

But North Korea is not like the former Soviet Union. Any outsider who reaches out to the suffering millions in North Korea must be cautious not to worsen their oppression. Consider how the regime prohibits international food donors from verifying who actually gets the food. Food aid is distributed only to the military and the faithful, and denied to those judged unreliable or disloyal. This is just one reason why Doctors Without Borders withdrew from North Korea in 1998.

Normally, concerts in North Korea are limited to performances of music that Kim Jong-il himself is (falsely) credited with having written or at least approved. Merely to listen to radio broadcasts from other nations is to risk imprisonment. During a party on Christmas in 1992, one of the regime’s former propaganda officers, Ji Hae-nam, made the mistake of singing a South Korean song. She was sentenced to three years in jail and, as she testified to the United States Congress after her escape, beaten so severely she could not get up for a month.

It would be wonderful indeed if the Philharmonic could expose an audience in Pyongyang to some of the West’s great anthems to freedom, or at least demonstrate that excellent music has been written outside North Korea’s borders ? and that the outside world is not so threatening after all. But negotiations so far on the terms of a visit are not promising.

The theater selected for the Philharmonic’s performance is one where, according to a North Korean official, Kim Jong-il himself perfected the acoustics. We can only hope that the American orchestra won’t be asked to play the same music the State Symphony Orchestra played earlier this month for the Philharmonic’s delegation to Pyongyang: Korean folk songs. The concert program ought to be the province of the Philharmonic, but who can expect that in North Korea?

If, as some starry-eyed commentators have suggested, the dictator’s willingness to let the Philharmonic perform demonstrates a new level of “openness,” then the orchestra should be able to make reasonable demands: that the orchestra alone set its program; that the performance be broadcast on state radio for everyone to hear; that the concert hall be open to the public, not just the elite; and that the Western press be allowed to attend. If the regime refuses these conditions, the Philharmonic should, in the name of artistic freedom, decline to perform in North Korea.

Richard V. Allen, national security adviser to President Ronald Reagan, is the co-chairman of the United States Committee for Human Rights in North Korea. Chuck Downs, the author of “Over the Line: North Korea’s Negotiating Strategy,” is on the committee’s board.

Concert Without Strings - New York Times

県内の特定失踪者家族会 初会合

１０日から１６日までは、北朝鮮人権侵害啓発週間です。
秋田市では、北朝鮮に拉致された可能性のある、県内の特定失踪者の初めての家族会が開かれ、家族達が互いに情報交換をしました。
県内には、北朝鮮に拉致された疑いの強い「特定失踪者」として、木村かほるさん、薩摩勝博さん、佐藤正行さん、松橋恵美子さん、石田清さんの５人がリストで公開されています。
１０日開かれた県内の特定失踪者の家族会には、薩摩さんと松橋さん、石田さんの家族が集まりました。
この会は、北朝鮮に拉致された日本人を救出する秋田の会が家族の声を受けて初めて開いたもので、家族達は同じ境遇にあるものとして互いに不安な気持ちを語り合ったり、情報交換をしたりしました。
また、特定失踪者に向けた家族からのビデオメッセージも収録しました。
このメッセージは、１６日に東京と大阪で開かれる集会や、北朝鮮向けの短波放送で流される予定です。

スーパーＪチャンネルあきた｜秋田のニュース