Philharmonic arrives

The New York Philharmonic has arrived in North Korea. As the head of an organization dedicated to cultural diplomacy, I congratulate both the North Korean officials who extended the invitation and the Philharmonic officials who accepted it. The world could use more of this sort of dialogue. The concert may bring no comfort to those languishing in North Korean gulags. But none of the millions of North Koreans who will hear its broadcast will fail to feel stirred by the humanist principles enshrined in the music they will discover for the first time.