Japanese maestro to conduct Beethoven in N. Korea

TOKYO (AFP) - A veteran Japanese maestro will conduct Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in North Korea, his spokesman said on Tuesday, in a rare cultural exchange amid lingering mutual suspicion between the two nations.

Mr Michiyoshi Inoue and members of his orchestra have already arrived in Pyongyang at the invitation of the North's State Symphony Orchestra ahead of their concert on Friday, the spokesman said.

It will be his second concert in the isolated country after a performance in October 2011.

Mr Inoue, music director of the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa in Ishikawa, central Japan, was quoted by the spokesman as saying: "This is a pure cultural exchange and nothing to do with diplomacy."