Is N. Korean visit martial arts diplomacy?
U.S. trip by tae kwon do masters revives memories of U.S.-China overtures By Kari Huus, MSNBC Updated: 2:30 p.m. ET Oct 3, 2007 In a visit already drawing comparisons to the “ping pong diplomacy” between the U.S. and China in the 1970s, a team of North Korean masters of the martial art tae kwon do is expected to arrive in Los Angeles on Thursday for an unprecedented 13-day American tour. [The North Korean team´s US tour did materialize.] In Los Angeles, the 18 North Koreans are expected to be joined by American and South Korean practitioners of the ancient Korean combat art in a three-hour performance. They also will spend the day hobnobbing at the quintessentially American institution, Warner Brothers Studios, before traveling to San Francisco; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Louisville, Ky.; and Atlanta. All that assumes that the North Koreans actually arrive at Los Angeles International Airport as scheduled, something the organizers of the tour — the Tae Kwon Do Times of Cedar Rapids, Iowa—have
