South Korean violinist Jung Chan Woo and North Korean conductor Kim Hong Je, both renowned musicians residing in Japan, will give a Tokyo concert in June ahead of the summit between the leaders of North and South Korea, according to the event's organizers.
The concert, to be held June 8 in Mitaka, western Tokyo, is to express hope for the peaceful unification of the two Koreas, they said.
It will precede the June 12-14 summit of South Korean President Kim Dae Jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, the organizers said.
Last month, South and North Korea said the two leaders will hold their first-ever summit -- the biggest diplomatic breakthrough since the Korean Peninsula was divided into the communist North and the U.S.-backed South in 1945.
Jung and Kim once planned a joint concert in Osaka in 1985, but the South Korean government would not allow Jung, who lived in Seoul at the time, to leave the country for Japan, Bremen House Co., a sponsor of the concert, said.
Jung, who attended the Toho School of Music in Japan, has served as concertmaster for the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and the Korea National Symphony and KBS Symphony orchestras in South Korea, according to Bremen House.
Kim, who lives in Kobe, has conducted an orchestra in Pyongyang, it said.
The program for the June concert will include "Lina in the Garden" by Isan Yun, "Sweet Home Memory" by an unidentified Korean composer, "Elegy for String Orchestra" by Tchaikovsky and Vivaldi's "Four Seasons."
The concert, in which the two musicians will play with the Bremen Ensemble, will start at 7 p.m. at the Mitaka City Arts Center.