Music, it is said, hath charms to soothe the savage breast. And not the savage beast as people who have not read William Congreve would have you think, possibly after being savaged by the lion to whom they were confidently whistling.
And thus we might be entering an era of peaceful reunification of the long-hostile pair of Koreas thanks to the sweet, sweet K-pop of Red Velvet.
Yes, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un attended a concert in Pyongyang featuring some of South Korea’s most beloved musical artistes in a celebration of cultural amity following last month’s joint appearance by the two nation’s teams at the Winter Olympics. The line up included Cho Yong-pil, Lee Sun-hee, Yoon Do-hyun, and Baek Ji-young, plus the aforementioned Velvets.
The North Korean leader was reportedly “clapping along”, which we can only interpret as being a signal that the power of K-pop might yet bring concord and unity to the oft-troubled region, much as Eurovision has prevented Europe plunging into another world war. Which sounds like a snarky joke, but unifying Europe to avoid future conflict was genuinely part of the motivation for the thing. And you just assumed it was an industry rort designed to subsidise the European glitter and white pants industries.
So the answer is clear: get Trump and Putin to swap Katy Perry for Dina Garipova and maybe, just maybe, there will be peace in our time. Then again, we’re guessing the Syrian pop scene isn’t exactly flourishing right at the moment…