Philharmonic soothes discord in North Korea

THE US national anthem rang out across a North Korean concert hall yesterday in a feat of musical diplomacy aimed at improving ties with a country that considers the US its mortal enemy.

The New York Philharmonic orchestra played The Star-Spangled Banner for the country’s communist elite, the first significant US cultural group to perform in the country.

The concert represents a warming in relations between the nations that remain locked in negotiations over Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programmes.