Modification of Arirang performance
Out of the original performance, officially dubbed the Grand Mass Gymnastics and Artistic Performance, Arirang, which starts with a prelude and proceeds to the main scene, and scenes 1,2,3 and 4 plus a conclusion, the North struck out the prelude, which stirred controversy in the South for its eulogy of the late North Korean President Kim Il Sung and National Defense Commission Chairman Kim Jong Il. Instead, it included performers waving paper peonies and azaleas toward President Roh, which then directly led to Scene 1 titled the “Arirang Nation” describing the hardship Koreans suffered under Japanese colonial rule.
Accordingly, they omitted such slogans as “We pay greatest respect to the nation’s father and great leader,” and “Maximum glory for Comrade Kim Jong Il” from the card section performance, which had appeared until August before North Korea was hit by a severe flood disaster.
In the concluding scene, too, most of the card section parts were eliminated. They stressed the legitimacy of the Korea Workers Party, such as “Long live the KWP,” “Glory for our Party,” and so on.
In Scene 2, titled “Songun Arirang,” the organizers excluded the bayonet drills boasting the prowess of the North Korean People’s Army and replaced it with a Taekwondo demonstration.
Despite such efforts to soften the content, however, the North kept intact the mainstay of the “Arirang Performance” designed to maintain the North Korean people’s unity, such as the combat scenes in Scene 4 and the parade of an army band with the card sections praising the “Iron General who repelled two imperialist invaders in one generation” and “Generalissimo Kim Jong Il who fostered a strong army with parental love” in the background.
The Arirang Performance is a mass gymnastics and artistic performance, which made its debut in 2002 to celebrate the 90th birthday of President Kim Il Sung. It was performed between April 29 and Aug. 15 that year. The second performance was from August to October 2005 to celebrate the 60th founding anniversary of Korea Workers’ Party (Oct. 10) and fifth anniversary of the June 15 Joint Declaration.
The Arirang Performance is composed of music, traditional dance, gymnastics and highly difficult acrobatics, which involved 100,000 participants per performance. Its highlights are the splendid and magnificent mass gymnastics and card section displays conducted by 20,000 people simultaneously. In 2002, North Korea allowed the entry of foreign tourists from the United States, China, Russia and Europe to watch the performance and has since made the most of the performance attractive to tourists from abroad.
Meanwhile, U Seo-ong, representative of the Guinness Book of Records viewed the Arirang Performance and presented a Guinness certificate to one of the North Korean vice premiers on Aug. 15, recognizing it as the world’s largest mass gymnastics and artistic performance.
웹사이트: http://www.president.go.kr
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2008년 8월 6일 17:22
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