OPERA singer Suzannah Clarke yesterday entertained shoppers in the Cleveland Centre, Middlesbrough, with a friendship song, sung in Korean.

The 32-year-old opera star will sing the same song at friendship concerts in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang.

She will also perform a selection of songs from The Sound of Music, a big favourite with Koreans.

Ms Clarke, from Normanby, near Middlesbrough, said: "It is very important that this area is seen on an international scale.

"It is a great way to make this link. It is a link with a country that is a political outcast and this is all about building bridges.'

"The North Koreans are lovely people, I have met a few of them.

"They are like all people; they breathe, they eat and they like to dance.''

She sang in Korean for the North Korean 1966 World Cup football team on their recent return to Teesside.

The former footballers presented her with a badge depicting the corolla horse, a symbol of their country, which she plans to wear during her visit to North Korea, next week