The residents of Pyongyang watched a taekwondo performance jointly staged by athletes from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the Republic of Korea (ROK) on Monday afternoon, the first ever of its kind.
The performance came 16 years after the ROK taekwondo delegation's visit to the DPRK capital.
During the one-hour performance, the 1,200-seat Pyongyang Grand Theater was fully occupied, with each side's team performing separately before a five-minute joint show.
The DPRK's high-ranking sports officials, including the chairman of the National Sports Guidance Committee, Choe Hwi; his deputy, Ri Il-hwan; and Kim Kyong-ho, chairman of the National Taekwondo Committee, attended the event.
The ROK's culture and sports minister, Do Jong-hwan, was also present at the event.
The ROK's 22 taekwondo athletes opened the performance with a martial arts-style dance under the theme of "April's Flowers," and their performance closed accompanied by the traditional ballad of "Arirang."
The DPRK's performance was a demonstration of taekwondo routines.
"I realized that taekwondo is the same whether in the South or in the North [DPRK], except that their content is slightly different," a DPRK audience member told Yonhap News Agency.
A member of the ROK delegation was quoted by Yonhap as saying, "The South's performance is more diversified and is reminiscent of a musical with storytelling, while the North's [DPRK] feels more like practical martial arts, from which I can feel its strength."
The performance was part of the ROK's 190-member delegation's cultural exchanges with the DPRK. Artists from the ROK arrived in Pyongyang on Saturday, and staged a concert on Sunday evening.
Before the concert, the taekwondo athletes performed at the Hall of Taekwondo for the DPRK audience. The second concert by artists from both sides is expected to take place on Tuesday evening.
