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K-pop Star Performs on Disputed Island to Bring Peace to Koreas

K-pop star Lee Seung-chul is hoping his performance with a North Korean defector choir on disputed territory can bring the two Koreas together.
2014 Winter Olympic Games - Closing Ceremony
Lee Seung-Chul performs during the Pyeongchang 2018 presentation as part of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics Closing Ceremony at Fisht Olympic Stadium on Feb. 23 in Sochi, Russia. Ryan Pierse / Getty Images file

A K-pop (Korean pop) star is hoping his music can help reunite the two Koreas for the first time in more than six decades.

Along with the 55-member With-U choir -- comprised entirely of North Korean defectors -- singer Lee Seung-chul recently started the "One Nation" campaign with a performance on a series of disputed islands claimed by both Koreas and Japan. The islands are known as Liancourt Rocks in English, as Dokdo in North and South Korea, and as Takeshima in Japan.

Lee took to Twitter to share photos of his visit to the islands, including this shot of him with members of the South Korean Navy.

Lee and the choir reportedly performed the official One Nation theme song “The Day” along with the traditional Korean folk song Arirang, which has been described as “a tragic song of separation and lost love.”

Significantly, the performance occurred on Thursday, the day before South Korea celebrates Liberation Day, the day the Koreas became independent of Japan in 1945.

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