From the monthly archives:

August 2006

Kim Ki-duk’s apology

by Philip Gowman on 31 August, 2006

in Film,Kim Ki-duk

The Chosunilbo has a good item on Kim’s apology to Korean cinema-goers. Visit the Chosun for the background and related links. The story is picked up in the koreanfilm.org forum, and a lively thread is ensuing. The consensus seems to be that if Kim wants Koreans to go to his movies, he should make movies [...]

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Is The Host anti-American (spoilers)?

by Philip Gowman 30 August 2006
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The packed performance of The Host at Frightfest on Monday went down well. We were told by the organisers that we were watching the longest possible print. Whether that means there are cuts in other theatrical versions I don’t know. One of the things about The Host is that it’s generated a lot of noise [...]

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LKL readers deliver results

by Philip Gowman 28 August 2006

When I started this site I never dreamed that I would end up helping to recruit language coaches for government agencies, or advise people on where to go to get their hair straightened. But those are two of this site’s recent successes, thanks to you, dear readers. So thank you to the various visitors to [...]

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Some good pictures

by Philip Gowman 27 August 2006

Firstly, some photos from 1970s Seoul. Commentary on Antti Leppänen’s site here and here. Antti’s site has a number of good posts with photos. All his photography posts can be found collected together on this del.icio.us page. Enjoy at your leisure. Also, some images from the Korean war, courtesy of the Chosun. And finally, something [...]

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Keith Howard (ed): Korean Pop Music – riding the wave

by Philip Gowman 26 August 2006
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(Global Oriental, 2006) A very readable introduction to the history of Korean popular music. While the book is a collection of articles by different scholars, careful selection ensures that there’s no duplication and that the coverage is chronological. And for once in a book of this nature there’s evidence that the editor has actually done [...]

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Foreign lawyers to boost Korean tourist industry?

by Philip Gowman 25 August 2006

The England & Wales Law Society Gazette notes that there’s a draft bill which will be going before the Korean National Assembly later this year which will enable foreign law firms to open up offices in Korea. This has long been lobbied for (London lawyers have been trying to open up opportunities in Korea at [...]

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Your help requested

by Philip Gowman 24 August 2006

Two queries received recently from visitors to this site. Bookshops [1]. Does anyone know a bookshop in central London, New Malden, or anywhere in between, where they sell Korean books? That is, books written in Korean (novels, short stories, whatever) rather than books in English about Korea. Hairdressers. Does anyone know a good Korean hairdresser? [...]

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Jeon Ji-hyun’s smooth thighs

by Philip Gowman 24 August 2006
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As regular visitors to this site will know, once in a while I like to lower the tone with an unnecessary post. This post is one of them. I’m not sure how the Chosun can tell from looking at the video of the cosmetic commercial in question, but On stage, [Jeon Ji-hyun] shows off her [...]

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A seriously cool thing about Seoul

by Philip Gowman 23 August 2006

Having made a couple of recent posts about how expensive Seoul is to live, I’d like to balance it with a positive post. Every now and then I see articles about things going on in Seoul which makes me want to be there. And this article in the Chosun is one of them. Robot Taekwon [...]

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Seoul’s working hours

by Philip Gowman 22 August 2006

Seoul has the world’s longest working hours, according to the Chosun: People in Seoul work the longest hours per year in the world, says a study by the Swiss financial group UBS. In its report “Prices and Earnings,” the Swiss financial group UBS says Seoulites spend more than 2,300 hours at work each year. That’s [...]

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Countdown to the Host (2)

by Philip Gowman 21 August 2006
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The London debut of the Host is one week away. And it’s still breaking box office records. It’s sold out at the Edinburgh Festival, where Bong Joon-ho will be making a personal appearance, while in Korea, after one week according to the Chosun, the film brought in some 2.7 million viewers in just four days, [...]

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Afghanistan worst fighting “since the Korean War”

by Philip Gowman 20 August 2006

It’s taken the interview over a week to make it from the BBC World Service onto BBC TV primetime (News at Ten) but on Friday evening the Beeb had a feature on the British military presence in Afghanistan. The interview was with Lt Gen David Richards (left). He is commanding the Nato force in the [...]

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Success at Locarno film festival

by Philip Gowman 19 August 2006

Kim Young-Nam has won two awards at the 59th Locarno film festival with his feature Don’t Look Back: the International Federation of Film Critics award and the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema award. According to the Chosun, the film revolves around young people who try to stay optimistic despite poverty. Judging by the [...]

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Samsung’s $800 million apology

by Philip Gowman 18 August 2006

A recent editorial in the Chosun talked about the donation of 800 billion won by the Samsung Group, in penance for past avoidance of inheritance tax, and makes for an interesting read. Here’s an extract: After the Samsung Group in May handed the Education Ministry a W800-billion (US$1=W965) scholarship fund, the foundation’s entire board resigned [...]

Companies:
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Alternative takes on Independence Day

by Philip Gowman 17 August 2006

The Chosun provides some interesting alternative takes on Independence Day. It’s not just the day that Koizumi visited the Yasukuni shrine again, or when Koreans held anti-American demonstrations. First, the event was marked in Japan, as it has for the past 16 years, by a “Concert for Peace” given by the Tokyo Phil, this year [...]

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