DMZ Peace Train Music Festival Special Morning Stage

[PERFORMANCE INTRODUCTION] The Cheolwon-gun area where PeaceTrain takes place was North Korean territory from 1945 to 1953. During Japanese colonial rule, it was a prosperous granary and a key city on the Gyeongwon Line, thriving as much as Seoul Station. The Korean War reduced this once-flourishing Cheolwon to ruins, divided the city between North and South, and destroyed most of its buildings to the point where only traces remain. What survived alone in that place is the Labor Party Headquarters, the central office of North Korea's Labor Party built shortly after liberation. In front of the building stands the "Road Origin Marker," indicating that all roads in Cheolwon begin from this point, with distances to major locations within the county engraved starting from this spot. Thus, the Labor Party Headquarters stands at the very center of Cheolwon-gun, divided between North and South after the Korean War, at a distance of 00KM. The 2026 PeaceTrain Music Festival will set up a special stage in a small courtyard beside the Labor Party Headquarters. In Part 1, the folk duo "Moher," based in Jeju Island at the southernmost tip of the Korean Peninsula, takes the stage, bringing songs of islands, wind, and the sea from the southernmost region of South Korea. In Part 2, singer-songwriter "Haeppa," who dreams of being "a member of a healthy society," sings of the irony of life and existence—whether spoken in jest or earnest. The Labor Party Headquarters, where traces of war, conflict, hatred, and rejection remain. On a quiet Sunday morning, may the peaceful music echoing through that place become that 00KM where we begin solidarity, not turning away from the tragedies unfolding across various corners of the globe even at this moment, working toward the end of tragedy.