North Korea May Invite Three Tenors in April, Choson Sinbo Says

By Heejin Koo
March 9 (Bloomberg) -- North Korea may invite tenors Luciano
Pavarotti, Jose Carreras and Placido Domingo to sing next month
at birthday celebrations for ``Great Leader'' Kim Il Sung, who
died in 1994, Choson Sinbo said, citing Vice Minister of Culture
Song Sok Hwan.
The communist state, in a 17-month international row over
its nuclear weapons program, will hold a ``Spring Friendship Art
Festival'' next month with 700 artists from 40 countries, the
Japan-based Korean-language newspaper reported.
Visiting artists will include the Russian National Ballet
Theatre, the Moscow State University Chamber Orchestra, the
Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and the China National Symphony
Orchestra, the report said.
Kim Il Sung, born in 1912, received military training in
the Soviet Union, which put him in charge of northern Korea after
World War II ended in 1945. In 1950, his army invaded South
Korea, under U.S. protection in an unsuccessful effort to force
unification. His son Kim Jong Il is now leader of North Korea.


Hmmm. That must be tempting for them. Go to a Stalinist country that is in the middle of a nuclear stand-off with the USA to sing at the birthday party of a dead guy. And it's not like any of them need the money. Don't think so somehow.