Highly anticipated footage of Zico’s performance in North Korea has been released.

The video was featured as a part of JTBC’s “Newsroom” talk show Saturday, where Kim Hong-gul, chair of the Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation and one of the high-profile delegations that accompanied South Korean President during the inter-Korean summit, featured as a guest and released the clip of Zico.

The somewhat blurred footage showed the musician, dressed in a clean-cut black suit, performing his hit “Artist” in front of the North Korean audience. Behind him was a North Korean orchestra, stony-faced and unresponsive to the hip-hop musician’s performance. Despite the unusual reception, Zico, well known for his charismatic performance, kept putting on a show.




Asked by an anchor about the audience’s response at the time, Kim said, “They seemed a bit disconcerted since the song was unfamiliar to them. It was also the first time for me to see a live hip-hop performance. Those who applauded were mainly South Koreans.”

After the show, Zico shared that he had to translate some of his impromptu English lines like “Put Your Hands Up” to Korean, but said that the audience extended a warm reception.
Zico, also a producer and a member of Block B, recently returned from North Korea where he was a part of a presidential entourage for the inter-Korean summit that wrapped up Thursday. Fellow singer Ailee and popular songwriter Kim Hyeong-seok also joined the group that traveled to Pyongyang.




(lotus@heraldcorp.com)