N. Korea wanted Clapton to perform in Pyongyang: WikiLeaks cable
By ANIMonday, December 13, 2010
LONDON - The latest US diplomatic cables released by the whistle blowing web site Wikileaks reveal that North Korea wanted British musician Eric Clapton to perform in Pyongyang because dictator Kim Jong-il’s son was a great fan of his.
The regime in Pyongyang is said to have approached the United States with a request for a Clapton concert in exchange for allowing American aid to enter the country, The Guardian said.
A “performance could be an opportunity to build goodwill,” the paper quotes the May 22 2007 cable, as saying.
It went on: “arranging an Eric Clapton concert in Pyongyang could be useful, given Kim Jong-il’s second son’s devotion to the rock legend”.
North Korea said then that the concert could be part of a cultural exchange between the communist nation and the west.
Clapton reportedly had “in principle” agreed to a concert slated for 2009, but the plan later fell apart after his representatives released a statement denying that he had agreed to take part.
Popular music from the west is normally outlawed in North Korea, but it seems that a special exception would have been made for the singer.
Music has been a tool of diplomacy with North Korea before. In 2008 the New York Philharmonic visited Pyongyang to perform. (ANI)
