London Korean Links

Covering things Korean in London and beyond since 2006

Son Heung-min wins Golden Boot Award

Congratulations to Son Heung-min for winning the Golden Boot award for the highest total goals scored in the English Premier League this season. He shares the award with Liverpool’s Mo Salah, as both players scored 23 goals. Some people (particularly Spurs fans) point out that Salah’s tally includes six penalties, making Son the more prolific … [Read More]

Cliff Richard in Seoul, 1969

OK, here goes… possibly LKL’s first ever Cliff Richard post. While searching for vintage Korean vinyl records sold in the UK on the Discogs record collectors website (they do crop up now and then, but if you’re a fan of Songolmae or Lee Mija, forget it: you’re too late!), I found this intriguing item – … [Read More]

Mari Kim’s new projects

Here’s a nice introduction to the multi-faceted work of Seoul Based artist Mari Kim, with English subtitles, just released on her YouTube channel. In the video she announces her plan to post a series of tutorials to help those learning to paint at home. Her work is always accessible, but in 2011 reached a wider … [Read More]

Son Heung-min reaches another milestone

The 2020/21 season isn’t over yet, but Tottenham’s Son Heung Min and Harry Kane have just become the top goal-scoring partnership in the history of the English Premiere League. The milestone was reached in Spurs’s 4-1 victory over Crystal Palace yesterday, when Son assisted the final goal from Kane. Son scored his 100th goal for … [Read More]

Julie Park wins Sir Karl Jenkins Music Award

Belated congratulations to London based violist Julie Park for winning the prestigious Arts Club Sir Karl Jenkins Award in October. She follows violinists Songha Choi, who won second prize in 2019, and Joo Yeon Sir who won the prize in 2014. Julie Park performs tomorrow in Korean Cultural Centre UK’s ‘Home Theatre’ season of online … [Read More]

Shin Seung-tae’s new Trot persona

When Lee Hee Moon announced the disbandment of his glam rock minyo outfit Ssing Ssing last year, I forewent gnashing of teeth and rending of garments, prophesying instead that an abundance of interesting projects must surely follow. And Lo, it did come to pass. Female vocalist Chu Da-hye started her band, Chudahye and The Chagis … [Read More]

An introduction to be-oom tea shop and garden

와우! be-oom is a new addition to London’s tea scene, serving hand-picked Korean teas sourced from small farms in the Boseong and Hadong regions. They also sell tea ceramics and run Korean tea tasting and tea blending events (see Facebook page for dates). Their tea house in the vibrant Exmouth Market offers a peaceful ‘garden’ … [Read More]

RIP David Kilburn

Many LKL readers will have been friends with, or had the great pleasure of meeting David Kilburn, who sadly passed away in Seoul on Monday, 7 October. David was a steadfast supporter of justice campaigns such as the Sewol ferry disaster and the ‘comfort women’ issue. He had his own personal experience of injustice in … [Read More]

Moon Haewon releases second album

Jazz singer Vocalist Moon released her second album Tenderly last week. Recorded in Japan with an all-Japanese jazz ensemble, it’s very much a sister piece to her superb first album, Kiss Me. This release, available on CD only in Japan and Hong Kong, is another collection of inspired jazz and pop covers. Moon’s seemingly effortless … [Read More]

Former UK Home Secretary to unveil statue commemorating Vietnamese victims

In an article on Politics Home, former UK Home Secretary Jack Straw writes about South Korea’s need to investigate rape and other atrocities inflicted by South Korean soldiers upon women during the Vietnam War. Despite Korea’s history of Japanese military sexual slavery, successive South Korean governments have refused to investigate their own military’s crimes against … [Read More]

Francis Daehoon Lee meets Jeremy Corbyn

On Monday, before his London talk on Denuclearising The Korean Peninsula, Prof Francis Daehoon Lee of People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy was invited to lunch with Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn, in a restaurant in his Islington constituency. He said he was impressed by Corbyn’s understanding of the situation in the Korean peninsular. Prof. Lee is … [Read More]

Two Koreans documentaries win at London International Filmmaker Festival

Koreans scored two successes at the International Filmmaker Festival of World Cinema awards ceremony in London this evening. Producer and curator Stephanie Seungmin Kim collected the award for Best Director of a Foreign Language Documentary Film for ‘Sleepers in Venice’, which gives a behind-the-scenes story of the planning and installation of the collateral group exhibition … [Read More]

Brief exhibition visit: Fragmentality

Fragmentality, at Arthill Gallery in North End Road, is a show featuring two RCA students. Minhee Kim’s works are delicate constructions made from layered paper or hair, using the ‘comfort women’ issue as her theme: Taeho Kim’s works include light and sound installations, as well as works on paper, employing intricate geometric patterns. [Read More]

Brief review: Taming of the Shrew, at the KCC

It was a great treat to see a shortened version of ‘Taming of The Shrew’ at the Korean Cultural Centre recently, performed in English by EDP, student drama club of Soon Chun Hyang University. Even if the academic talks that preceded it were not quite as lively, one valuable outcome of attending the seminar was … [Read More]