The New York Philharmonic became the most prominent U.S. cultural institution to visit North Korea on Monday, with orchestra members saying they hoped their musical
diplomacy could bring the two countries closer together.

North Korea — an isolated, nuclear-armed Communist country — made unprecedented accommodations for the orchestra.

A delegation of nearly 300 people, including musicians, staff and journalists, flew into Pyongyang on a chartered plane.

The Philharmonic's concert Tuesday will be broadcast live on North Korea's state-run TV and radio.

The Asiana Airlines plane carrying the orchestra from South Korea landed in overcast conditions with light snow. The orchestra posed for a group photo on the tarmac with most of the musicians waving.

The Philharmonic accepted North Korea's invitation to play last year, with the encouragement of the U.S. government, at a time of rare optimism in the long-running nuclear standoff involving the two countries.

After successfully testing an atomic bomb in October 2006, North Korea shut down its main nuclear reactor in July and is working to disable it in exchange for aid and removal from U.S. terrorism and sanctions blacklists.

But disarmament has stalled this year because of what Washington says is North Korea's failure to give a full declaration of its atomic programs to be dismantled, as promised under an international agreement.

Despite the political overtones of the trip, music director Lorin Maazel said it was the right decision to go to North Korea.

"I think it would have been a great mistake not to accept their invitation," he said after arriving at the Pyongyang airport.

"I am a musician and not a politician. Music has always traditionally been an arena, an area where people make contact. It's neutral, it's entertainment, it's person to person," Maazel said.

He said if the music moves the audience, "we will have made whatever contribution we can make to bringing our peoples just one tiny step closer."

Dvorak won't change much in N. Korea: Rice

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in Seoul Monday at the inauguration of South Korea's new president, Lee Myung-bak, but has no plans to stop in Pyongyang.

"I don't think we should get carried away with what listening to Dvorak is going to do in North Korea," Rice, a classical pianist herself, said Friday before leaving for the trip.

The concert will feature Antonin Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 and An American in Paris by George Gershwin. Among the encores planned is the Korean folk song Arirang.

The performance will begin with the orchestra playing both countries' national anthems, and the U.S. and North Korean flags will stand together on stage, said the Philharmonic's president and executive director, Zarin Mehta.

It was not known whether North Korean leader Kim would attend the concert.

"We are going to do master classes," Mehta said Monday before leaving Beijing for North Korea. "We'll do chamber music, rehearsals … that's what we're there for."

Members of the orchestra will also play chamber music with members of the North's State Symphony Orchestra.

Musicians preparing for the trip said they hoped personal contacts with North Koreans could help bring the countries closer.

"I think the openness is the most important issue here, and this is going to be the groundbreaking start of the whole thing. We're making music together and playing for the people and I think that this will be a great, great contribution," concertmaster Glenn Dicterow said at the Beijing airport.