London Korean Links

Covering things Korean in London and beyond since 2006

Pleasure Squad defector tells all

Dear Leader’s Pleasure Squad defector tells all: “His favourite delicacy contains the reproductive organ of sharks.” Interesting article from Sunny Lee in The National. Pleasure Squad candidates over 165cm tall are excluded because Kim Jong Il is short, says the defector [Read More]

Han Yongun: Questioning a monk’s nation-building project

More details about this Friday’s seminar at SOAS Friday, January 29th, 5pm, room G50 (main building) Jung-Shim Lee, Leiden University Han Yongun’s posthumous novel Death: Questioning a monk’s nation-building project Abstract: This paper will explore how a Korean monk Han Yongun produced Confucian-inspired nation-building ideas in his novel Death (죽음, 1924). Han Yongun (韓龍雲, 1879-1944) … [Read More]

Ji-Yeoun You lunchtime recital at LSE

Ji-Yeoun You piano Thursday 25 February 2010 1:05pm Shaw Library, Old Building Beethoven Eroica Variations, Op.35 Ravel Gaspard de la Nuit A first prize winner in several international competitions, she gives concerts round Europe and teaches music at Berlin University of the Arts. [Read More]

LKL’s top 10 K-films of the noughties

Mark Russell led the way with his fascinating list of films of the decade – in which the biggest shock was that there was no Park Chan-wook. GI Korea also has a list, which redresses the balance somewhat. So here is mine. Over the years I’ve been reasonably diligent in giving marks out of 10 … [Read More]

Two Korea-related talks at the Senate House

News of two upcoming Korea-related seminars in the Comparative Histories of Asia Seminar hosted by the Institute of Historical Research at Senate House, University of London. Thursday 28th January, 5.30pm Dr Owen Miller (Cambridge / SOAS) “The Idea of Stagnation in Korean History from Fukuda Tokuzo to the New Right” Thursday 25 February, 5.30pm Professor … [Read More]

January cooking with Kiejo

The next date for cooking with Kiejo is this Saturday, 30 January. Menu: Tteokbokki (Rice cake and Vegetables with Spicy sauce) Galbi Gui (Grilled short rib of beef) Miyuk and cucumber salad (Seaweed and cucumber salad) Time: 11 AM — 2 PM. Venue: The Chalfonts Contact: kiejosarsfield at hotmail dot co dot uk [Read More]

Kim Jeong-ho’s Daedong Yeojido online

An amazingly detailed 1861 pictorial map of the Korean peninsula is now available online. Well worth a look. # The Daedong yeojido was produced by the great Korean geographer Kim Jeong-ho. The map is at a scale of about 1:162,000 and is a wood block print that includes two inset maps of Seoul, texts and … [Read More]

Two recitals by Grace Yeo

Grace Yeo has two piano recitals, on Wednesday and Thursday this week: (1) 1.15pm on Wednesday 27 January 2010 at St. Martin within Ludgate Ludgate Hill, London EC4 Mozart: 9 Variations on a minuet by Duport in D major, K.573 Mendelssohn: Venezianisches Gondellied in F-sharp minor, Op.30 No.6 Chopin: Barcarolle in F-sharp major, Op.60 Schumann: … [Read More]

Park Chan-wook’s most embarrassing DVD

This week’s Time Out has a brief interview with Park Chan-wook, to celebrate the UK DVD release of Thirst. The subject? His 2,000-strong DVD collection. For an obscure recommendation from his shelves, Park tips Sanjay Gupta’s Zinda, the Bollywood film that seems to be based on Oldboy. “A man, taken and locked up for 14 … [Read More]

Ninja Assassin: Could Stephen Colbert do this?

Yes, it’s the UK release of Ninja Assassin, starring Colbert’s nemesis, Rain. Hollywood.com gave it 1 out of 10. “It’s been a long time since we’ve seen a decent ninja flick,” starts the review, before explaining why it is that we’re still waiting. But the review is reasonably complementary about Rain, reserving its main criticism … [Read More]