[imText1]Mixed reactions from the international press regarding the New York Philharmonic’s performance in Pyongyang on the 28th have called into question the effectiveness of cultural diplomacy. According to an article released by the Council on Foreign Relations, the tone of international press on the issue ranges from optimistic to skeptical to negligible. The article quotes South Korea’s Hankyoreh as stating “It is clear that the historic concert will improve relations between Pyongyang and Washington,” while UK based news agency the Guardian is said to have reported “It would be naive to expect that Dvorak or Gershwin alone could open the eyes of North Koreans to the outside world.”
In response to these mixed reviews and international skepticism on whether the unprecedented performance will have an impact on U.S.-North Korean relations, the Brookings Institute, in an article released yesterday, attempts to analyze the gravity of cultural diplomacy.
The article recognizes that the visit to Pyongyang by the New York Philharmonic neither promotes nor condones repressive North Korean policies, or does it “’whitewash’ a brutal dictatorship.” It cannot transform the relationship between the two countries or improve negotiations regarding the nuclear issue. What the visit has done, the author explains, is exposed the North Korean people to real Americans and American culture. By doing so, the orchestral performance has humanized Americans in the eyes of the people and has perhaps helped to neutralize stereotypes that the North Korean government has long used to shape conceptions of the United States and its people.
Can such an impact be measured? Brookings invites a look back in history to the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s performance of the opera Porgy and Bess which took place in the former Soviet Union in 1956. “Following [the performance], Russian musicians explained that the concerts debunked the myth propagated by the Soviet government that the West was ‘decadent, uncultivated, and doomed’.” The article goes on to explain that “the discrepancy between propaganda and reality led the citizens of the Soviet Union and the Soviet bloc to question the official media more and more.”
The New York Philharmonic is the third ground breaking concert of its kind, the second having been held in China, a performance by the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1973. According to Brookings, Tuesday’s performance was held on the condition that it was not to be restricted to the elite population, but rather must be broadcasted throughout the country. The concert is reported to have been heard internationally by an audience of 200 million.
Brookings enumerates the potential benefits of cultural diplomacy as an event that allows for conflicting nations to interact in a safe and comfortable manner. Cultural diplomacy offers a means of showing mutual respect for the traditions of the other country. And finally, through the sharing such experiences, a positive tone can be instilled in the relationship.
“Even though North Korea may not immediately alter its position on nuclear weapons, something has changed in North Korea and in its relationship to the United States,” the author writes. “Three months ago, when the concert was first announced, Ambassador Christopher R. Hill…noted that the invitation to the orchestra ‘does represent a shift in how they view us, and it’s the sort of shift that can be helpful as we go forward in nuclear weapons negotiations’.”
According to Brookings, Loren Mazel, conductor of the Philharmonic, addressed critics who undermined the concert “for lending legitimacy to a despicable regime,” saying, “’It would have been a great mistake not to accept this invitation.’ In the end,” the author writes, “it was people, not governments, who shared an emotional connection at the concert. The symbolism of North Korea opening its doors to four hundred Americans may impact future relationships in imperceptible ways.”
