The New York Philharmonic landed Monday in North Korea for a landmark concert of musical diplomacy aimed at breaking down barriers between the hardline communist nation and the United States.
Television pictures showed members of the famed orchestra and accompanying reporters disembarking from the chartered Asiana Airlines plane following the short flight from Beijing.
It is the first ever visit by US musicians to North Korea, one of the most impoverished nations in the world and labelled by US President George W. Bush as part of an "axis of evil" for its nuclear weapons drive.
On Tuesday evening, the orchestra will play in the capital Pyongyang, in an event that will be televised here and internationally and will start with the national anthems of North Korea and the United States.
There has been media speculation that Kim Jong-Il, the country's enigmatic and reclusive leader, may make a rare public appearance at the concert at the East Pyongyang Grand Theatre.
The orchestra's 48-hour visit comes amid frustration over the stand-off in efforts to end North Korea's nuclear weapons programme, and the regime remains listed by Washington as a state sponsor of terrorism.
"This journey is a manifestation of the power of music to unite people," New York Philharmonic executive director Zarin Mehta said ahead of the trip.
"It is our sincere hope that these concerts will aid in the beginning of a new era between the peoples of our nations."
Before boarding the flight from Beijing, viola player Ken Mirkin also talked about the potential healing power of the concert.
"I think it could go a long way to helping mutual understanding between the two countries... I think there is no better way to do it than through music," Mirkin said.
The concert will feature George Gershwin's "An American in Paris," Antonin Dvorak's ninth symphony "From the New World," and Richard Wagner's "Prelude to Act III of Lohengrin."
The visit has been compared to US orchestral visits to the Soviet Union in the 1950s and "ping pong" diplomacy with China in the 1970s.
However, this trip has come under heavy fire in the United States, with the conservative tabloid New York Post calling it a "disgrace" that had handed Kim "a propaganda coup."
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice -- in South Korea on Monday for the inauguration of Lee Myung-Bak as its new president -- welcomed the concert but cautioned against expectations it would lead to dramatic change.
"From my point of view, it's a good thing that the Philharmonic is going, but the North Korean regime is still the North Korean regime," she said Friday ahead of her Asia tour, which also include stops in Beijing and Tokyo.
"So I don't think we should get carried away with what listening to Dvorak is going to do in North Korea."
The orchestra has been briefed by US nuclear talks envoy Christopher Hill, who said last week: "You know, sometimes the North Koreans don't like our words (but) maybe they'll like our music. So we'll see."
Tensions spiked sharply after North Korea staged its first nuclear test in October 2006, but Pyongyang later returned to six-party disarmament talks that group the two Koreas, the United States, China, Russia and Japan.
The countries agreed last February to a landmark aid-for-disarmament deal aimed at ending the North's nuclear programmes.
But the agreement has been held up since Pyongyang missed a 2007 year-end deadline to disable its nuclear facilities and declare all atomic programmes.
North Korea has no diplomatic ties with the United States, which fought on Seoul's side in the 1950-53 Korean War, and around 28,000 US troops are still stationed in the South.
The Philharmonic, founded in 1842, is the oldest symphony orchestra in the United States. It has performed in 58 countries, including a Cold War visit to the former Soviet Union in 1959.
