This ever-popular event will commence with a guided tour of the chambers of the House of Commons and the House of Lords, followed by a reception on the Terrace Pavilion and dinner at the Churchill Dining Room.

The guest speaker will be Warwick Morris, former British Ambassador to the Republic of Korea.

Warwick Morris retired earlier this year from the Diplomatic Service. For much of his 38 year career, accompanied throughout by his wife Pam, he dealt with Asia, especially South Korea where he served three times for a total of 13 years, most recently as Ambassador for 4 years. Prior to that he was Ambassador to Vietnam for 3 years. During the first posting in Seoul (1975 to 1979) he studied Korean for 18 months at Yonsei University, and two of their children were born then. He dealt with NE Asian affairs, defence and security issues during postings in London, and also served in New Delhi, Mexico City and Paris. Mr Morris visited Pyongyang in 1991 and, with his wife, in 2004. He has been an active member of the Anglo-Korean Society and the British Association of Korean Studies for some years. He continues to take a keen interest in events on and around the Korean peninsula and has recently taken on several advisory roles for British companies engaged in Korea and Vietnam, including in insurance, legal services and the global risk business.

The event is hosted by Peter Bottomley MP, secretary of the All-Party Britain-Republic of Korea Parliamentary Group, and is sponsored by Hyundai Motor UK Ltd.

Cost: Members £45.00 Non-members £55.00

Optional tour: £5.00

Tour starts at 6pm; pre-dinner drinks start at 7pm.

Links

• Anglo-Korean Society Website
• Download an application form

Chuseok, or Harvest Moon Festival, is Korea’s main annual celebration and takes place on the 15th day of the Eighth Moon according to the lunar calendar. Usually described as a thanksgiving for a good harvest, its origins lie in ancient ancestor worship. Koreans visit their hometowns causing a mass migration every year, pay respect to their ancestors and eat special foods such as songpyeong, a crescent-shaped rice cake which is steamed on a bed of pine needles and filled with beans, chestnuts and jujube.

Chuseok feast

The lecture will be followed by a buffet dinner. Doors 6.30pm Talk 6.45-7.45pm.

AKS Members: £12 (tickets from Sylvia Park)
Asia House Members: £12 (tickets from Asia House)
Non-members: £15 (tickets from Asia House)

Links:

• Asia House website

ANGLO -KOREAN SOCIETY
JOINT PRESIDENTS
H.E. The Ambassador of the Republic of Korea Dr Cho Yoon-Je
Dr Robert Hawley CBE

CHAIRMAN
Sir Stephen Brown

LAURA DEVINE

(Immigration Solicitor)

Thursday 5 June 2008

6.30 pm

Laura Devine Solicitors

11 OLD JEWRY LONDON EC2R 8DU

(off Poultry, nearest underground station Bank)

Laura Devine Solicitors is a niche immigration firm and is recognised as one of the leading immigration practices in the UK. The firm comprises 14 specialist lawyers and its principal, Laura Devine, is renowned as a leading immigration authority.

The firm provides specialist advice on all aspects of immigration to the UK and US (except asylum) and European free movement and additionally advises on immigration issues world-wide. Laura Devine Solicitors is a member of the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association and the American Immigration Lawyers Association .

They provide advice and assistance to both individual and corporate clients. Their corporate client base is drawn from all sectors including finance, consulting, leisure, travel, catering, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, education and entertainment.

Laura is a visiting lecturer at Queen Mary’s College. Author of numerous publications on UK immigration law and regularly gives presentations to the legal and business communities in the UK and abroad. She is a UK representative of the International Bar Association Immigration Committee and member of the Law Society Immigration Committee, American Immigration Lawyers’ Association and the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association. Also admitted to the Bar of the State of New York.

She will give a short presentation on immigration issues. Followed by questions and answers.

Laura has a long association with the Anglo-Korean Society and this evening’s hospitality is generously provided by her.

Buffet with wine

Members Free.

Please confirm your attendance in advance to:

Sylvia Park
Social Events Secretary
48 Pont Street London SW1X OAD
tel. 07802 858 771 email. SYLVIAPARKAIRTRAVEL [at] HOTMAIL [dot] CO [dot] UK

People just turning up on the night will not be admitted.

Warwick Morris retired from the British Diplomatic Service in February 2008 after 38 years, 13 of which he and his wife spent in South Korea in three very different postings. Members and guests of the Anglo-Korean Society had a real treat on Wednesday 7 May when we were invited to hear him speak at the Korean Cultural Centre off Trafalgar Square, followed by a buffet with the opportunity to mingle afterwards. Morris is an immensely likeable, entertaining and self-effacing speaker and in the brief time allotted gave a clear view of the changes in South Korea over three decades.

Former British Ambassador to the Republic of Korea, Morris’s ‘three bites of the cherry’ began in 1974. Shortly after joining the Diplomatic Service, he was told he was going to South Korea, arriving just after an assassination attempt on President Park Chung-hee. En route he stopped in Hong Kong, which seemed exotic and strange; Korea seemed ‘even more strange’. The winter temperatures regularly reached minus 20, and it was a ‘rather bleak’ and tense time under military dictatorship, with curfew every night and air raid practices once a month, and a violently anti-communist atmosphere.

The economy was already racing along at a 10 per cent growth rate, similar to China today, although 40 per cent of the population was still involved in fishing and farming (compared to a mere seven or eight per cent today) and big industry was only just beginning. The per capita income was $600 (compared to $20,000 today), and Park initiated the New Village Movement to modernise the country.

In 1976, at Panmunjom US soldiers were axed to death, and there were frequent tense incidents on the border. A small British battalion remained in Seoul as part of the UN presence. In that security-conscious atmosphere, Morris found it an exciting time and place to be a diplomat, meeting dissidents who could only express their views to him, spending time ‘in dark shady coffee shops with dark shady characters’. He learned Korean and became Second Secretary in the Embassy. On the day he left in October 1979, President Park was actually assassinated – not by a North Korean commando at all, but the director of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency, who claimed Park was an obstruction to democracy.

When Morris was next posted to Korea in 1988 as Head of Political Affairs, the president was ‘a general in a suit’, showing the country was moving towards democracy. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, ex-Soviet embassies started to arrive in Seoul, the first being Hungary, whose ambassador came directly from North Korea.

While tension and security concerns were still present, there had been huge development in the infrastructure by then, with wider roads, high buildings and bridges across the cleaned-up Han River, previously black and fringed with slum housing. The press was less controlled. In 1991, Morris was invited to Pyongyang for four days to supervise a delegation of British MPs, and became the first British diplomat in North Korea since the war.

In his last posting to South Korea, Morris was British Ambassador to the Republic of Korea from 2003 to February 2008. Arriving in 2003, Morris was struck by how much had been achieved; while shaken by the Asian economic crisis, the country was bouncing back faster than others that had been affected. Here now was a democracy with a ‘real civilian president’. South Korea is now the 11th biggest trading nation with remarkable high-speed trains, and is beginning to play an international role in peacekeeping and poverty reduction. The beautiful countryside has not all been covered in concrete. And the Koreans still feel very strongly about the help they received from the British soldiers during the war.

After the speech, this sentiment was whole-heartedly echoed by Major General Mike Swindells, president of the British Korean War Veterans, who added that ‘no country has shown such consistent gratitude’. It’s wonderful what the British did, he said, to help Korea when Britain itself was still under rationing and suffering from World War Two. ‘But it’s even more wonderful what the Republic of Korea has done in remembering.’

The event ran over schedule a little because of the opening presentation by Samsung VP of Consumer Electronics for UK and Ireland, Andrew Griffiths, who waxed lyrical about his beautiful high tech televisions, cultural marketing and corporate social responsibility. But when Samsung sponsors such useful and enjoyable events – and the superb venue – then we’re happy to sit through corporate presentations. Unfortunately it overran and cut into the time Warwick Morris had to speak and answer questions, but then it’s evidently been an astonishingly good year for the Korean company. It’s not every year that the Queen gives her Christmas Day speech with a Samsung TV in the background.

It meant I had to dash away for my train soon after the speeches to get home before midnight, but not before I’d enjoyed the buffet. Thanks to Warwick Morris for giving us a window onto an amazing career, and to the Anglo-Korean Society’s chairman Sir Stephen Brown and Social Events Secretary Sylvia Park for putting on an exceptional evening, and to sponsors Samsung.

Photo taken on my lovely Samsung camera.

The Anglo-Korean Society through the Bursary Committee of the British Association for Korean Studies is offering a single £500 bursary on a competitive basis to post-graduate students.

The Anglo-Korean Society was founded in 1956 to foster friendship between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Korea. By providing opportunities for contacts between British nationals and Koreans residing in or visiting Britain, the Society seeks to bring together everyone in the UK who has an interest in Korean matters, and to act as a forum for social and cultural exchange in an environment of friendship and understanding.

Details of the Anglo-Korean Society Post-Graduate Bursary Programme are as follows:

1. The bursary is open to students of British nationality who are registered to do a post graduate degree at a British university.
2. The term “post graduate” includes taught and research degrees
3. The programme of study or research must be largely if not wholly focussed on Korea, past or present.
4. Preference will be given to programmes of study and research in the area of the humanities or social sciences broadly defined, although other areas could be given consideration in exceptional circumstances.
5. Preference will be given to students whose programme of study o research includes the study of and/or the use of the Korean language.
6. There is no restriction on how the bursary will be used by the student.
7. At the end of the academic session in which the bursary is received, the recipient will write a brief letter describing how the bursary furthered the recipient’s studies. This should be addressed to the Anglo-Korean Society and sent to the chairman of the Bursary Committee of the British Association for Korean Studies.

Interested Students should apply by doing the following:

1. Complete an application form
2. Obtain two (2) letters of recommendation from tutors or lecturers.

The application and recommendation forms may be obtained from the chairman of the Bursary Committee at the address shown below. Each letter of recommendation should be placed by the recommender in a separate sealed envelope with the signature of the recommender written across the fold. Completed applications should be posted to

Prof James H Grayson
BAKS Bursary Committee (re: Anglo-Korean Society Post-Graduate Bursary)
School of East Asian Studies
The University of Sheffield
Sheffield S10 2UJ

and received by the committee no later than Friday 30 May 2008. All applications will be informed of the Committee’s decision within four weeks.

Last year the bursary was awarded to LKL contributor Beccy Kennedy, who gave a report of her trip to Korea to the AGM of the Anglo-Korean Society in February.

AN EVENING WITH WARWICK MORRIS
FORMER BRITISH AMBASSADOR TO THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA

WEDNESDAY 7th MAY 2008
6.30 pm
KOREAN CULTURAL CENTRE UK
Grand Buildings, 1 Northumberland Avenue, London WC2N 5EJ

Warwick Morris (right) retired from the British Diplomatic Service in February of this year, after 38 years, 13 of which he and his wife spent in South Korea : 1975 to 1979, 1988 to 1991 and most recently, as Ambassador, from Nov 2003 to Jan 2008. Prior to that he was Ambassador to Vietnam. He visited North Korea in 1991 & 2004.

As well as updating the Society’s members on recent and current developments in South Korea, he will look back at some of the events and changes he has witnessed on the Korean peninsula during the past three decades. There will be a question & answer session.

Samsung Electronics UK, sponsor of the evening, will give a presentation.

AKS MEMBERS FREE Guests £10.00 (Buffet & wine included). Application form is below.

Links

• Application form

What a cheerful and pleasant evening at the Korean Cultural Centre, organised on 10 April 2008 by indefatigable and always enthusiastic Sylvia Park, social events secretary of the Anglo Korean Society!

The new Korean Cultural Centre is ideally located at Number 1 Northumberland Avenue, WC2N 5EJ, near Trafalgar Square, in premises which are dedicated to the discovery and the enjoyment of Korean culture. An important convivial space, an art gallery and a library make it the ideal location for an evening of Korean delights. “Contemporary Korean Art”, the current exhibition (from 27 March to 16 May), paints a portrait of contemporary Korean life and examines the daring ways in which artists approach tradition and modernity.

The evening began with a warm welcome by Sir Stephen Brown, Chairman of the Anglo Korean Society greeting the participants and thanking the organisers and sponsors with great cheerfulness and humour in the presence of the Chargé d’Affaires of the Korean Embassy.

A joint presentation by the Korea Tourism Organization and Asiana Airlines enabled the audience to learn more about the tourism and transport opportunities available to reach Korea and visit its most interesting sites.

After this interesting and informative presentation, the audience was treated to a concert of Kayageum and Guitar with two exceptional performers. Contemporary and traditional pieces were played and the audience was given an opportunity to join in and sing.

Then it was time for an exciting Taekwondo demonstration with young performers – including one brave girl – eager to show their talent at this very efficient martial art, under the attentive supervision of their instructor, Master Ha, of New Malden. Taekwondo became a worldwide sport after it was designated as an official Olympic sport in 2000.

After this brilliant and energetic demonstration, a raffle was drawn with various prizes including a return ticket London to Seoul kindly donated by Asiana Airlines and many other gifts which caused much surprise and emotion among the lucky winners!

It was then time to have dinner. Members and guests were offered a wonderful Korean buffet with a variety of exquisite dishes and the traditional kimchi, with its strong and spicy flavour. Plenty to eat and plenty to rejoice with lovely food and French wines as it seems that Korean food and French wines go particularly well together – and it is a French national who says so!

Members of the Anglo Korean Society had the good idea of bringing guests with them which contributed to create an even more intense atmosphere of discovery and excitement.

Thanks to Lee Hyung-wook, editor of The East, for the photos

The forces of the AKS, KTO and KCC were combined to good effect at the Cultural Evening on Thursday, 10 April. Walking around the packed Cultural Centre, it felt as though things have changed a lot in the last two years, and there is a chance that Korea may become known in this country for more than its history in the past fifty years.

The core of the evening was a series of talks and performances in the multi-purpose hall. Sir Stephen Brown, the AKS chairman, opened proceedings with a brief speech, introducing high profile attendants, which included a senior Hyundai executive. He also announced that AKS has now acquired three corporate sponsors, mentioning Diageo (who I believe do a brisk trade with the Koreans in Scotch whisky).

The presentation by the KTO representative examined Korea-UK tourism, which is increasing in both directions. There then followed an overview of Korean tourist attractions, both ancient and modern, and he revealed that a third airline, Finnair, will offer flights from the Manchester to Seoul from June onwards. The Asiana representative followed this with a rundown on what the airline is doing at the moment, but I went for a glass of water at this point, and only managed to catch the last part about the flat-bed seats.

I was in time to see the whole of the Kayageum and guitar recital by Jung Ji-eun (above) and Jeon Sung-min, which included traditional and contemporary pieces – ‘Let it Be’ caught me by surprise – as well as an original composition. It was interesting to hear to two instruments together, although my favourite was the solo Kayageum piece which opened the programme. I was familiar with the sound of the Kayageum, but I had never seen it played before. It looks pretty difficult.

Finally came the Taekwondo demonstration by a group of children from New Malden. This was more impressive than I originally envisaged, haunted by images of lack-lustre judo exhibitions from my school days consisting largely of forward-rolls.

Accompanied by a rousing soundtrack, the demonstration encompassed board breaking, two intervals of meditation, and what appeared to be a kind of martial arts themed dance routine.

After a somewhat chaotic raffle, the buffet was opened, and the evening was allowed to reach a natural close at around 10.30pm. I was impressed to see all the staff of the centre, including the director, pitching in to carry the tables used for the buffet down to the lecture rooms.

Although the AKS cultural evening is now over until next year, I am pretty sure that the KCC team has more than a few tricks up its sleeve. Thank you to Sylvia Park and all concerned for another sparkling event!

Thanks to Lee Hyung-wook, editor of The East, for the photos

The evening was scheduled to start at 7pm, so I swanned in, Korean-style, at 7:10 and wondered where everyone was. I grabbed a glass of wine from the dapper Mr Corbishley at the bar, said hello to a couple of embassy and KCC officials and ambled in the direction of the multi-purpose space.

The proceedings had in fact started bang on time, and AKS members and their guests were packed into the seating area. There was standing room only at the entrance to the hall, and I managed to squeeze through the crowd enough to get a view of the KTO representative presenting the delights of Korea as a tourism destination. As the KTO were generously sponsoring the event and funding the buffet, it was only natural that we should get this informative marketing pitch.

It was also natural that the KTO would bring along some guests from the industry: at the fringes of the crowd I recognised some of the people from the Korea, Sparkling launch last year. But as the memory of that particular event came rushing back to me, I began to feel a strong sense of foreboding.

I was not wrong.

As we got further into the evening, a breakaway group started forming outside the hall, drinking and chatting. They were predominantly the KTO and Asiana representatives and their guests (and I think I spotted some Korean Air representatives there as well, though I may be mistaken). The chatter got louder after the Asiana representative had presented the airline’s exciting annual passenger growth statistics, and we had moved on to the performances.

“People don’t want to listen to this sort of stuff”, I overheard one of them say, rather too loudly, as the delicate sound of the kayageum tried to make itself heard. Yes they do, and they’d appreciate it if you’d damn well shut up.

As the Taekwondo kids started their peaceful meditation before their martial arts demonstration, the sounds of merry-making intruded from outside as the Korean travel industry and their colleagues showed their collective disdain for the cultural events going on inside.

Mr Yu In-chon, the new Minister for Culture, Sports and Tourism, has been tasked by President Lee to reduce Korea’s so-called Tourism Deficit. Funding events such as this is a necessary part of the marketing effort. But, for preference, please just cough up the money, go to the pub next door, and leave the rest of us in peace.

Apart from the wine, there was a splendid buffet, speeches, a raffle, some tourism videos and of course the opportunity to make new friends and catch up with old ones. One of the highlights of the evening was a demonstration of taekwondo by some local Korean children. Cute.

The event two years ago was in the gentlemen’s-club-like atmosphere of the Foreign Press Association in Carlton House Terrace. This time round it will be hosted at the new Cultural Centre.

Here’s the official details from the AKS:

The Anglo-Korean Society in association with the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) will give you the opportunity to share our knowledge of Korean culture, food & music. They will present a short video, highlighting their positive steps to promote Korean tourism.

The KTO was established in 1962 to further develop Korea’s tourism industry. The KTO is responsible for all promotional activities, development of new tourism resources & research into the tourism industry. They can provide you with up-to-date information on Korean tourism.

Britain’s first Korean Cultural Centre opened on 30 January 2008. They will offer a cutting-edge insight into trends in contemporary Korean culture such as the dynamic film scene, the influence of Korean music & television on Asia, & the country’s innovations in new technology, as well as connections to Korea’s unique cultural heritage.

The centre houses an art gallery, lecture room, theatre & cultural lounge. It also has a library & high-tech information centre offering Korean language courses & lectures by academics & other experts.

The evening will commence with a reception followed by an exquisite Korean buffet with wine. There will be entertainment by Korean musicians, together with a demonstration by a group of young boys & girls of the traditional Korean martial art of Taekwondo.

The cost is £15.00.

KOREAN CULTURAL CENTRE UK
Grand Buildings, 1 Northumberland Avenue, London WC2N 5EJ

Download the application form below and send your cheque to Sylvia Park without delay. It’s a great value evening.

Links:

• Application form

Chairman’s Report to the Annual General meeting of the Anglo-Korean Society held at the Embassy of the Republic of Korea, London, on Wednesday 23rd January 2008

Introduction

1. I am pleased, after an absence of three years, that I am able to attend this AGM to present the BKVA report personally. I am indebted to Peter Poole who has kindly presented the report in my absence.

Membership

2. At the BKVA AGM held in Blackpool on 6th October 2007 our membership stood at 4,007. We are a finite organisation and we do expect our numbers to decrease year by year… the youngest of our members are approaching their mid-seventies and we have to accept that age will take its toll.

3. Regrettably, I have to report that on 27th April this year our Cumbria Branch will be holding its disbandment service at the Kendal Parish Church where they will lay-up their colours. The branch membership has dwindled to a level where to retain a branch is no longer a feasible option… The members remaining will join another branch where they will be able to keep in touch with the membership and still benefit from the comradeship which exists throughout the Association and from our welfare organisation and funds should the need arise.

Executive Committee

4. There have been two changes in the Executive Committee… the first changes other than the President, for a number of years:

(a) Jim Wilkinson retired as National Treasurer because of ill health; he had been treasurer since the BKVA was formed in 1981, a total of 26 years. His place has been taken by Tony Stevens of the Leicester Branch.

(b) The other change was the Welfare Adviser; Richard Clementson of the Red Rose Branch (Preston) has replaced David St J. Griffiths who has become a Trustee. Richard’s appointment is most appropriate as he has a background in social services with a particular emphasis on the older generation.

Samsung / BKVA / RBL Scholarship

5. This year’s scholarship (2008) has been awarded to Miss Jennifer Frost LL.B a graduate of the University of the West of England. She is the granddaughter of George Newhouse who served in Korea with the GLOSTERS where he was taken prisoner at the Battle of the Imjin. He is a member of our Gloucester Branch.

6. Miss Frost is currently doing a language course and will start her studies at Yonsei University in Seoul, in March; her subject will be International Law.

7. We have again this year (2008) awarded 5 bursaries to students to be selected by the Bursary Committee of the British Association for Korean Studies (BAKS) headed by Professor James Grayson PhD, the Professor of Modern Korean Studies at the University of Sheffield.

Events of Interest

8. We have had a full year with many events taking place at National, Area and Branch levels. Among them have been:

(a) 25 June	Annual Wreath Laying Ceremony at St Paul’s Cathedral organised by the Korean Embassy followed by a lunch very generously hosted by H.E. do Cho Yoon-je, the Ambassador. I had hoped to attend and set off in plenty of time but was thwarted by the floods at that time.
(b) 30 June	The Korean festival held at Kingston-upon-Thames; organised and hosted by the Korean Residents Association
(c) 27 July	The BKVA Korean War Commemoration Dat at the National Memorial Arboretum at Alrewas. The attendance was very good and we were honoured to have as our guests: a. His Excellency the Korean Ambassador Dr Cho and Mrs Cho. b. The President of the International Federation of the Korean War Veterans Association (IFKWVA) Brigadier General J.E. Lello, of South Africa, and Mrs Lello, and c. The Korean Defence Attaché, Captain (Navy) J.K. Lee and Mrs Lee. Dr Cho gave the address at the service and then took the salute at the march past of veterans… some 500 in all. The band “on parade” was that of the RAF Regiment and very good they were too.
(d) 12 Oct	Dedication of the Armed Forces Memorial, Post World War II, by Her Majesty The Queen. Dr Cho and his Defence Attaché were present. It was significant that Dr Cho was the only Ambassador in attendance. A number of Korean War Veterans were present, as was Bert Deavey, who is not a war veteran, but who lost a brother in Korea. He is a member of the Swindon Branch; he and his wife were presented to Her Majesty. It is worthy to note that the Government of the Republic of Korea made an extremely generous donation to the Armed Forces Memorial Appeal.
(e) 28 Dec	The Ambassador arranged for senior officials of the BKVA to meet the Vice Minister of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, Mr Kim Heung-Keol. We had a most pleasant and enjoyable dinner at the Arang Restaurant in Golden Square, near Piccadilly Circus.

Conclusion

9. I am sure you have heard enough about the BKVA but in closing I would just like to say we may be ageing but we are still looking to our future. Our AGMs for the next three years are at

2008 Torquay
2009 Llandudno
2010 Scarborough

10. I would be pleased to take any questions

GM Gadd OBE
Colonel
National Chairman BKVA
23 January 2008

Links:

• British Korean Veterans Association home page
• Links to all the BKVA branches

BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR KOREAN STUDIES

The AKS and BAKS are pleased to announce the Anglo-Korean Society Post-Graduate Bursary Programme. A single £500 bursary is being offered on a competitive basis to taught and research post-graduate students. The submission date for all applications will be 1 April, 2008.

The programme will be administered by the Bursary Committee of the British Association for Korean Studies on behalf of the Anglo-Korean Society.

Information about the bursary and application forms may be obtained from the Chair of the BAKS Bursary Committee, Prof. James H. Grayson, or from the BAKS website at www.baks.org.uk which will be put up shortly. Prof. Grayson’s contact details are:

Prof. James H. Grayson, Chair
BAKS Bursary Committee
School of East Asian Studies
University of Sheffield
Sheffield S10 2TN
United Kingdom

LKL’s contributor Beccy Kennedy was winner of the 2007 bursary.

By Jennifer Barclay

‘You getting wet, love?’ asked the policeman outside the Houses of Parliament, where it was drizzling on the evening of 25 October. I was early and getting a little damp, but sure my ticket bearer would show up soon. Instead, the policeman ushered me inside, giving me an opportunity to gaze on the oldest part of the Palace of Westminster, where royals lie in state when they pop off.

For me, the most exciting thing about the Anglo-Korean Society Annual Dinner at the House of Commons on 25 October was the setting. I’d been fretting about my Lounge Suit, but the fascinating guided tour of the House of Commons and House of Lords took my mind off all that. I learned what ‘toeing the line’ really means: it’s the ’sword line’ that keeps the MPs on the front row from getting into fisticuffs with the opposition. I also learned that an astonishing number of people don’t turn off their mobile phone on a tour of the Houses of Parliament. I’m surprised you’re allowed in with one.

The oddest thing about the Anglo-Korean Society Annual Dinner for me was that, given that this is an organisation devoted to friendship and networking, there was so little time for Anglo-Korean socializing. By the time we’d had our tour and made our way to the oddly named Terrace Pavilion (not a pavilion, and no sign of a terrace), there was only about half an hour of reception, which meant a sort of speed dating was necessary for me to get a sense of the people I might meet as a member of the Anglo-Korean Society. I was whipping out business cards like there was no tomorrow.

Grabbing a glass of wine, I chatted briefly with a friendly Korean woman who worked for a London law firm, and would have liked to get to know her better but she got pulled into another conversation. Her company was a member of the society, so perhaps there was business to be done and a writer / publisher wasn’t the kind of new client her company wanted her to meet. Swiftly flipping business cards en route with another friendly Korean woman, London correspondent of Yonhap News Agency, I took the opportunity to accost a member of the Anglo contingent.

He turned out to be a banker who’d lived in Korea for three years in the early eighties. It was a time, he recalled, of air raid practices at night, raids on the Blue House, a shoot-out in Panmunjom. I was curious to know more but my notebook made him nervous. His wife had learned to speak the language — there were very few foreigners there at the time, 13 Caucasians in all of Pusan — and his children, young then, now remembered Korea ‘by and large with affection’. He had kept in touch with Korean friends in Seoul, but didn’t know anyone in the Terrace Pavilion that evening. Perhaps he would make new friends over dinner.

To dinner at the Churchill Dining Room, where I was seated at an almost exclusively Anglo table. It seemed odd for an Anglo-Korean Society Dinner to be segregated into Anglos and Koreans. Nevertheless, it was fortunate to meet the Birmingham-based director, director’s wife and producer of Hanyong Theatre Projects, creators of an inspired bilingual play called The Bridge — about collaboration, conflict resolution and communication beyond language. The Korean National University of Arts had noticed Peter Wynne-Willson’s work and invited him to teach a course, and this was what developed. It’s been performed in the England and South Korea (Seoul and closer to the border) and may be taken to Adelaide, Australia next year if funding can be secured.

Peter Bottomley, an MP for 32 years and Secretary of the Anglo-Korean Parliamentary Group, kicked off the speeches by neatly comparing politics to the fluctuations of the Thames and reminding us that this room dedicated to Churchill was a good place for exchanging ideas. He handed over to the guest speaker, the Right Honourable The Lord Richard QC, among other things a past President of the UK-Korea Forum for the Future.

After observations that Koreans were industrious, disciplined and economically successful, he commended the Korean workforce for accepting discipline in the short term in order to emerge from the economic crisis. I’m sure he was just being polite in not mentioning how that ‘discipline’ was enforced occasionally. An interesting question nonetheless, whether Koreans as a society have a capacity for determination in the quest for long-term goals. He finished by commenting on how the North-South meetings have brought ‘remarkable’ changes, and the importance of taking baby steps towards solving the North Korea problem. It perhaps wasn’t the meaningful exchange of ideas that had been set up, but perhaps the annual dinner is not the place for serious debate.

His Excellency The Ambassador of the Republic of Korea, Dr Cho Yoon-Je, showed his customary grace as he thanked the speaker and said he was placing a strong priority on enhancing the British people’s understanding of Korea. Hear hear.

Perhaps the annual dinner is not the place for discussion in any case. It’s for celebrating friendship and meeting people, so I did a spot more speed dating as we hovered around the dinner table. Failed to hit it off with an Anglo in business development who bought art from a North Korean he met in Zimbabwe. Did better with an Aussie Anglo, also in international business development, and his charming Korean lady friend.

Social Events Secretary Sylvia Park does a wonderful job of organizing four events through the year, and the society offers bursaries to UK graduates studying Korean culture and history. Try to support them if you can by joining — they’re doing excellent work and you might just make some new friends.

The details: Thursday 25th October at the House of Commons.

Host: Peter Bottomley M.P. (Secretary of the Anglo-Korean Parliamentary Group)

Guest Speaker: The Rt Hon The Lord Richard QC (Past President of the UK Korea Forum for the Future; Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Lorts 1997-1998)

Guest of Honour: H.E. The Ambassador of the Republic of Korea, Dr Cho Yoon-Je.

Reception at the Terrace Pavilion, 7:15pm, Dinner in the Churchill Dining Room 8:00pm

Dress: Lounge Suits

Guided tour of the House of Commons & House of Lords: 6:15pm (extra charge)

And for non-members, you should think of joining. Details from Sylvia, whose contact details are on the attached form.

Links:

• AKS Annual House of Commons Dinner application form.

Two events to celebrate Chuseok, Korea’s harvest festival.

Firstly, the Anglo-Korean Society will be having a buffet dinner at Young Bean Kwan on the Barbican highwalks in the City on 20 September. Guest of honour will be Ambassador Cho.

There will be a short pre-dinner talk on Korean customs and food, and guests will be entertained by young Korean musicians on traditional instruments.

Pre-booking required with the AKS. Download a flier for the Chuseok dinner here. AKS membership enquiries to Sylvia Park (sylviaparkairtravel at hotmail dot co dot uk)

Second, the British Museum will be celebrating Chuseok on 22 September. Many of the entertainments from the Thames Festival the previous weekend will be appearing in the forecourt of the BM, and also in some of the galleries.

Full details in the attached flier. In summary, Dulsori with some pungmul percussion, KoPAS with some experimental performance, some chamber music, and some traditional dancing which scared off the Japanese invaders during the late 16th century Imjin war; a screening of Im Kwon-taek’s Chihwaseon, and highlights from Dae Jang Geum, everyone’s favourite TV drama; some soap sculpting with Shin Mee-kyung - who was one of the artists in Asia House’s Through the Looking Glass exhibition last year; some lantern-making and woodblock printing (same details as the Thames Festival); and finally a gallery talk about the museum’s famous Moon Jar (more on this soon).

A massive half-day with something to suit everyone, from noon till 5pm. In fact the main frustration is that there’s so much going on that you’ve got to choose what to miss. For example the Chihwaseon screening, the gallery talk, and traditional chamber music in the reconstruction of a yangban’s study are all going on at the same time.

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• Brit Sung Kyung Kim at We All Come From Seoul, a blog in Copenhagen

The talk will be followed by a buffet supper. The event will be held at Young Bean, on the Barbican highwalks (3 St Alphage High Walk, London EC2Y 5EL), a favourite place of mine for their lunchtime buffet, being not a million miles from my employer’s front door. The event is open to all, but you need to book in advance. And if you choose to join the AKS before then you get a cheaper price for the evening.

Application / booking forms can be downloaded here. The booking form also contains Sylvia Park’s contact details: contact Sylvia for details of how to join the Anglo-Korean Society.

Below is a map. The place is probably easiest to find by ascending the escalators at the SW or NW corners of the London Wall / Wood Street intersection, and the walking east (towards Moorgate) along the north side of London Wall at the highwalk level. You pass a not terribly wonderful pub, and the restaurant is a bit further along. If you pass a tailors, you’ve gone too far. Nearest tube is St Pauls or Moorgate, with Bank and Barbican not far behind.

Link to booking form

The evening started in the Samsung gallery at the V&A, in front of the stoneware from the three kingdoms and unified Silla periods. Beth noted that the potters wheel had been introduced into Korea from China very early in the first millennium CE, long before the technology was discovered in the west. We paused in front of a unified Silla period funerary urn (right), before moving on to the Koryo dynasty exhibits.

Beth talked about the painting and inlaying technique with Koryo dynasty porcelain, which has the familiar celadon colour. She highlighted the successful red colouring on one vase (only just visible in my poor snap to the left), and we enjoyed the simple shape of the pear-shaped plum vase (right). There was also a fun pot shaped like a bamboo shoot (photo here).

We passed along to view the Choseon dynasty exhibits (example here), showing the Korean preference for plain white while the vulgar Qing dynasty next door in China were enjoying more colourful pots. Beth noted the gaps in the collection — particularly in respect of early Choseon period ceramics. More donations welcome.

Tucked away at the end of the gallery at the bottom of the stairs, and very easily missed, is a small collection of contemporary Korean ceramics: reinvented Buncheon ware (example left), and a spectacularly wonky vase (right). I’d missed these display cases in my previous visits and was glad to have these works pointed out.

We viewed some of the exhibits on the other side of the gallery: the beautiful inlaid boxes; the ox-horn chest, and the badges of office.

With some time to spare before dinner, Beth took the company, via a view of the huge Chihuly chandelier in the V&A’s foyer, into the contemporary glass gallery and thence to the new Jameel gallery of Islamic art — emphasising the V&A’s continuing efforts to collect works of importance.

Thence to Bibimbup in Earl’s Court Road where we fitted snugly into the downstairs room. The wine, soju and conversation flowed, and new friendships were made.

More snaps here.

Tickets £20 (and membership details) from Sylvia Park.