Eric Clapton had been officially invited to perform in the Communist city of Pyongyang, North Korea -- the first such invitation to a Western rock star to the isolated nation. Although North Korean authorities have long shunned rock and pop music, Kim Jong Chol, the Swiss-educated son of national leader Kim Jong Il, is reportedly a huge Clapton fan. As a means of building tentative cultural ties with the West, North Korea has asked The New York Philharmonic to play in Pyongyang today (2/26/2008). The North Korean State Symphony Orchestra is due to perform in London and Middlesbrough in September. The Financial Times said the invitation to Clapton was in return for the Korean orchestra's British tour.