N. Korea to hold Arirang festival from August to October: U.S. agency

SEOUL, Feb. 17 (Yonhap) -- North Korea will hold its Arirang Festival, the
world's largest mass gymnastics show, from August to mid-October, a U.S. tour
agency said Tuesday.
Pyongyang has intermittently held the annual Arirang festival, named after
Korea's famous folk song, since 2002, mobilizing some 100,000 people for
synchronized acrobatics, gymnastics, dances and flip-card mosaic animations.
The months-long show, also held in 2005 and 2008, is believed to bring in
badly-needed foreign currency and promote the regime's socialism. A U.N.
committee has expressed concerns at the mobilization of children for the event.
"The latest update from Pyongyang (February 2009) is that the mass games will
almost certainly be held" from Aug. 1 through Oct. 10, said New Korea Tours, a
private agency based in Alabama that operates tours to North Korea, on its
website.
It said the 90-minute extravaganza will be performed every evening except Sundays.
North Korea skipped the festival in 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2007 without giving
reasons. Seoul officials say some of these years were when the country was badly
hit by floods from the summer monsoon season. In 2006, Pyongyang conducted its
missile tests in July and a nuclear test in October.
It is not known how many foreign visitors have watched the festival. The U.S.
tour agency said less than 600 Americans have visited North Korea for the show.
The U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed concern over the Arirang
festival and other child activity in North Korea in its latest report in January.
The committee said it is "concerned that children spend a significant proportion
of their time allocated for instruction for the purposes of agricultural work,
festivity preparations including the Arirang festival."
hkim@yna.co.kr
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