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The musical ¡°Yoduk Story,¡± which tells of the horrors of the political prison camp of Division 15 in the city of Yoduk, North Hamgyeong Province, has had its first overseas performance.
Since last Wednesday at the Music Center at Strathmore, Maryland near Washington D.C., an astonishing 4,000 people have seen the musical, government luminaries among them. President George W. Bush's chief adviser on Asia, Victor Cha, was among them, as was Richard Lawless, the deputy under secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific affairs, Kathleen Stephens, the principal deputy assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Alexander Vershbow, U.S. ambassador to Korea, and the special envoy on North Korean human rights, Jay Lefkowitz. Suzanne Scholte, the president of the Defense Forum Foundation, was also there.
Lefkowitz said he hopes the musical will provide an opportunity for Americans to learn about the true state of affairs in North Korean concentration camps. He expressed hope that other such cultural contacts would help to bring about change in the North.
The Washington Post said the musical ¡°will feel familiar to audiences who have seen ¡®Jesus Christ Superstar¡¯ and ¡®Les Misérables.¡¯¡± ¡°It's a large-scale passion play/moral plea amped up with a thunderous score.¡± The producer, Jung Sung-san, who is himself a survivor of North Korea¡¯s prison camps, says, ¡°Because this is a vehicle for me to tell the U.S. of human rights in North Korea, I feel very satisfied.¡± The musical will move to Los Angeles, where it will run for four days starting on Oct. 19 at the Scottish Rite Auditorium.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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