The girl band is known as North Korea’s Spice Girls

The band Moranbong performed in North Korea on July 9, 2012.

Leader Kim Jong-un founded Moranbong in July 2012.

The band is named after the Moranbong district, capital Pyongyang, where the Chinese embassy in North Korea is located and where Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong-un’s grandfather, gave his first speech after taking control of the city.

According to SCMP, Moranbong has about 20 members.

In the first performance, members of Moranbong wore evening gowns and short dresses and had the appearance of several Disney cartoon characters on stage.

North Korean state media described the performance as `unique, special and modern`.

`Just 10 musicians can create wonderful melodies like a large orchestra. The young singers sing emotionally and happily,` North Korea’s national news agency KCNA reported.

Moranbong was also nicknamed `Spice Girls of North Korea` by some foreign media outlets such as Telegraph, Wall Street Journal, and IB Times.

A member of the Moranbong band carrying musical instruments leaves a hotel in Beijing, China, December 11.

Moranbong performed at many military camps, singing the song My Way by American singer Frank Sinatra, the theme song Gonna Fly Now from the movie Rocky, released in 1976 in the US, along with propaganda songs and songs.

To play so well just by memorizing the music score and without a conductor requires `systematic and very arduous training,` SCMP quoted Shirley Cheung, senior instructor of the Instructional Training Council.

According to Cheung, the songs Moranbong performed were more or less similar to Chinese and Japanese pop music of the 1980s. `It seemed like they were a bit out of touch with current Asian pop music trends,` Cheung said.

KCNA reported on December 10 that Moranbong will have an exchange performance with a Chinese military orchestra at the National Center for Performing Arts in Beijing from December 12 to 14 at the request of the leader.

South Korean news agency Yonhap said yesterday that North Korea suddenly canceled the show, possibly because China only sent a delegation of low-level officials to protest Kim Jong-un’s announcement that Pyongyang had a hydrogen bomb.

A Chinese government official said North Korea initially requested that Chinese President Xi Jinping or Premier Li Keqiang be in the audience.

China is North Korea’s only ally in the region, and is the main aid provider to North Korea.

Moranbong sings the song `We only follow you`

North Korean girl group Moranbong