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Category Archives: Events news

Francesca Cho in “Free Words”

04-Jul-08

Francesca Cho: Little dream garden (installation)

Francesca Cho will be participating in the group exhibition at the Mayfair Public Library, 15 - 31 July. The event is part of London Biennale.

This is the first exhibition to be held in the library space and complements nicely the National Year of Reading. ‘Free words’ explores the censored word, printed matter and use of language as means of expression, through the interpretations of five artists, with site specific installations, painting, photography and sound pieces:

  • Marisol Cavia
  • Francesca Cho
  • Sumer Erek
  • Marko Stepanov
  • Katie Sollohub

Mayfair Public Library is at 25 South Audley Street, Mayfair, London W1K 2PB [Map]. Opening hours 11am-7pm weekdays, 10:30am-2:00pm Saturdays.

Links:

Free Words flyer

Filed in Events news, Francesca Cho, KAAUK, Other exhibitions | Comments (0) »

Korean Artists at the Edinburgh Fringe

25-Jun-08

Angel and the WoodcutterI spotted that the Cho-in Theatre Company are putting on a performance at the KCC this coming Monday (30 June). A still from their production The Angel and the Woodcutter is shown on the right.

This notice got me thinking about the Edinburgh Fringe, which was choc-full of Korean talent last year. Same again this year, with the emphasis on “physical theatre”, including the b-boy crew who gave us the “Ballerina who loves b-boys” last year. Some more traditional performances as well.

Here’s the results of typing “Korea” into the Edinburgh Fringe website. Do check the website for any changes, and for venue details.

Yo! Chunhyang - A Pansori Musical of Chunhyang

Fusion musical retelling of Korea’s Chunhyangga legend, mixing Western music and traditional Korean Pansori narrative. Forbidden friendship, corrupt officials, female virtue - is true love stronger than death? An Eastern spectacle for all ages.

venue: C
group: Handong Global University
category: Musicals and Opera
time: 17:45 every day from 30 July to 25 Aug 2008 inclusive

Sa-choom

Korea’s newest dance musical smash hit! Sa-Choom delivers an exciting, humorous, and interactive story of three friends coming-of-age. Featuring the hottest and most thrilling hip hop, modern, jazz, and breakdancing. You’ll be up and dancing along by the end!

venue: Musical Theatre @ George Square
group: Dobecom
category: Dance & Physical Theatre
time: 13:45 every day from 31 July to 25 Aug 2008 inclusive

Shut Up! - Listen!

Humans evolving without ears! South Korean director Myung-il Lee combines original music, dance, visual arts and theatre to envisage a future where humankind is exclusively obsessed with talking, paying for the privilege of being heard.

venue: Sweet ECA
group: Theatre Company ‘SU’
category: Dance & Physical Theatre
time: 13:30 every day from 11 Aug to 17 Aug 2008 inclusive

Mong Yeon (A Love in Dream)

Refusing to cope with the loss of love in the real world, our heroine retreats to a living world of dreams. Unique and beautiful Korean tale of love, loss, reincarnation and philosophy. www.modli.com

venue: C
group: Modl Theatre
category: Theatre
time: 13:55 every day from 30 July to 25 Aug 2008 inclusive

Mr Gong’s Hair Salon

Masks energetic physical theatre and acrobatic comedy, all with a far-Eastern twist. Join Mr Gong, his friends and enemies in this fast-paced frenetic non-verbal comedy. Direct from Korea.

venue: C central
group: Dae Gu Metropolitan Theatre Company
category: Dance & Physical Theatre
time: 12:40 every day from 1 Aug to 16 Aug 2008 inclusive

InvAsian Festival: Arirang Party

Another Korean extreme musical dance spectacular, direct from its hit run in Seoul, featuring world-class percussionist Choi So-Ri with a combination of street/tap/martial arts dance crews who’ll guarantee you’ll party the night away. Simply, breathtakingly the best.

venue: clubWEST @ Quincentenary Hall, The Royal College of Surgeons
group: Lunatic Company
category: Dance & Physical Theatre
time: 22:45 every day from 3 Aug to 25 Aug 2008 inclusive

InvAsian Festival: Family

Korean extreme mix of Taekwon martial arts/hip hop street dance/comic lunacy and overall physical brilliance. Add to this some amazing, pulsating musical soundscapes and you won’t believe your eyes or ears. A unique and explosive, spellbinding experience. Book early.

venue: clubWEST @ Quincentenary Hall, The Royal College of Surgeons
group: Lunatic Company
category: Dance & Physical Theatre
time: 15:00 every day from 3 Aug to 25 Aug 2008 inclusive

InvAsian Festival: ID

Part dance, part performance/installation, this inspired Korean cyclical art piece offers the chance to experience cultural identity and acclimatisation on a very personal level. Two 30-minute, separate performances in the hour for a maximum of twenty people only.

venue: clubWEST @ Quincentenary Hall, The Royal College of Surgeons
group: Floating Water
category: Events
time: 10:00 and 10:30 every day from 3 Aug to 25 Aug 2008 inclusive

InvAsian Festival: Skywalk

Skywalk (featuring MBCrew), the company responsible for last year’s ***** ‘Ballerina B-Boy’ hit, return with another extreme dance musical sensation. MBCrew are one of the leading exponents of the Korean-wave street dance phenomenon: their expertise is astonishing. Unmissable.

venue: clubWEST @ Quincentenary Hall, The Royal College of Surgeons
group: Skywalk
category: Dance & Physical Theatre
time: 21:15 every day from 3 Aug to 25 Aug 2008 inclusive

Choon-Hyang: True Love

Theatre Seoul’s youth musical company presents Korea’s adored traditional love story entirely in English. Choon-Hyang and Mong-Ryong must defend their love against all odds. Featuring Korea’s top child actors. ‘Brimming with energy and enthusiasm!’ - ***** (Plays International).

venue: Spotlites @ The Merchants’ Hall
group: Theatre Seoul
category: Musicals and Opera
time: 17:45 every day from 9 Aug to 17 Aug 2008 inclusive

Angel and the Woodcutter

Heartbreaking story with profound anti-war message. Exquisite movement theatre, told entirely without words, in a triumph of communication. Amidst war and desperation blooms a beautiful, hopeful Korean folktale. ‘Clearly masters of their craft’ (Scotsman).

venue: Zoo Southside
group: Cho-In Theatre
category: Dance & Physical Theatre
time: 16:10 every day from 3 Aug to 25 Aug 2008 inclusive

Links:

Filed in B-boys, Dance, Edinburgh 2008, Events news | Comments (1) »

An evening with the Korean Artists Association

18-Jun-08

Flyer

PRESS RELEASE

The Korean Artists Association UK was formed by 7 Korean artists in 1997, at a time when the activities of Korean artists in the U.K. were not broadly recognized. Over the last 10 years the Association has organized a number of activities and has grown in membership.

Korean artists living and working in the UK have for a long time expressed the desire to have a body represent them. We are very grateful to be able to introduce Korean artists to Britain through an ‘Evening of Korean Culture’ to be held at the Korean Cultural Centre on 27 June 2008.

The Korean Artists Association UK held its first exhibition in 1999, and its most recent central London event was an evening of Chuseok festivities at Asia House in 2006. They now bring you an ‘Evening of Korean Culture’ at the Korean Cultural Centre. This will be a fabulous opportunity to see some of the beauty and variety of Korea’s artistic scene, with a varied programme of dance, traditional and contemporary music, poetry and the martial arts. There will also be an exhibition by talented artists.

1997년, 한국예술인들의 활동이 폭넓게 알려지지 못하고 있던 영국에서 7명의 한인예술인을 중심으로 재영예술인회가 설립되었습니다.

본격적인 활동이 시작된 1998년 이후, 지난 10년 동안 크고 작은 일들을 겪으면서 저희 예술인회는 성장해 왔습니다.

자신의 전문 분야에서 한국 전통 및 현대 예술을 세계에 알려온 재영예술인들의 숙원사업중 하나였던 한국 문화원의 개원으로 보다 나은 환경에서 전시 및 공연 등을 기획할 수 있게 되어 더없이 기쁜일이 아닐수 없습니다.

저희 예술인회는 이번 행사를 통해 순수와 열정으로‘한국 안에 품고 있는 세계’를 알리고 ‘세계가 기대하는 한국의 참 아름다움’을 알리는 ‘세계 문화인들의 교류의 장’으로 재영예술인회가 한발 앞서 나아가고자 합니다.

The programme for the evening is as follows:

6:30 Refreshments
7:00 Introduction by Mr Philip Gowman and welcome message from H.E. Ambassador Chun Yung-woo
7:05 – 8:00 Performance, recitation and demonstration by KAAUK members:

  • So Ra Lee (Violin)
  • Roger Norkie (Violin)
  • Jieun Park (Piano)
  • Hye Kyoung Park (Poetry Recitation)
  • Ji Eun Jung (Korean Traditional Harp - Kayagum)
  • Sung Min Jeon (Guitar)
  • Sunnee Park (Korean Traditional Dance)
  • Seung Soo Ha (Martial Art - Taekwondo)

8:00 Closing Message by Chairman of KAAUK
8:10 Food, Drinks & viewing of exhibition

Contact details

  • Website: www.koreanartists.co.uk
  • email - koreanartuk [at] gmail [dot] com
  • tel - 07581 2561559

Supported by

  • The Embassy of the Republic of Korea
  • The Korean Cultural Centre

RSVP by email to koreanartuk [at] gmail [dot] com

Flyer - back

Filed in Events news, KAAUK, KCCUK | Comments (0) »

Union Gallery launches Sea Hyun Lee catalogue

18-Jun-08

The Union Gallery behind Tate Modern has been showing Sea Hyun Lee’s vivid red landscapes since last month. Katie Kitamura has been beavering away on a catalogue for the exhibition. That’s now ready, giving an opportunity for a mid-show celebration: the catalogue will be launched at an evening event on 26 June, 6:00-9:00pm.

The Union’s press release follows:

Sea Hyun Lee: Between Red 10

UNION is pleased to launch a new catalogue by Korean artist Sea Hyun Lee.

Sea Hyun Lee’s paintings are a constant and obsessive shuffling of recurring fragments. His unmistakable series of landscapes are rendered in delicate but pervasive washes of red - large swaths of unmarked white meandering between islands of crimson land. The blank spaces are harshly set against the carefully detailed fragments in red yet cohering into the flawless totality that is created by each painting.

This body of work endlessly revisits and reconstitutes the landscape of the DMZ - The Demilitarized Zone cutting across the Korean Peninsula that acts as a buffer zone between North and South Korea. Reworking fragments of terrain, blocks of land and water, Lee creates a world functioning according to the logic of its own terms. In this sense, it is a world that is entirely hermetic - appropriately so, considering that the territory Lee depicts is defined by the very impregnability of its borders:

When I was serving my mandatory military service, I would be in a tactical area at night, close to the border. I would wear night vision goggles, which coated everything in red. The forests and trees felt so fantastic and beautiful. It was unrealistic scenery filled with horror and fear, and with no possibility of entering.

Lee’s painting functions both on a political and on an aesthetic level. The symbols employed in his work - whether it is the filter of red or the way in which each of his imagined landscapes combine elements of both the North and South Korean mountain ranges into a seamless single landscape - set the visual terms of his paintings, while also delivering a concise political message.

These are also deeply personal works that reference Lee’s own sense of the past and its losses. Here, Lee tarries with two familiar ideas: nostalgia and utopia. But he avoids approaching either with mere simplicity or mere skepticism. Instead, his paintings are infused with a sophisticated sense of nostalgia, and a wry idea of utopia.

Sea Hyun Lee was born in Geoje Island, South Korea in 1967. Graduating from M.F.A Chelsea College, London in 2006, he currently lives and works in London. Recent solo and group exhibitions include Neuberger Museum of Art, New York; Total Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul; Susak Expo, Island of Susak, Croatia; Museum of Hunabaci, Japan.

For more information please contact: +44 (0)20 7928 3388 or: info [at] union-gallery [dot] com

The Union is at 57 Ewer Street, London SE1 0NR, underneath the railway arches.

Links:

Sea Hyun Lee: Between Red 33, 2007

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Secondary Sensation at I-MYU

16-Jun-08

Details of I-MYU’s June exhibition

Secondary Sensation

SECONDARY SENSATION

Sungjin Kim / Jihye Park / Yujung Chang
12 June – 7 July 2008

I-MYU-Projects is pleased to present Secondary Sensation a group show of works by emerging Korean artists, Sungjin Kim, Jihye Park and Yujung Chang. The works introduce an idea of dislocation, fiction and process layered as mismatched entities, repetitions that render the representation of an image as a ’secondary sensation’ or aftershock, an echo of a synthetic original.

SUNGJIN KIM’S large scale paintings point to a highly charged sensory aspect of the human body, the lips. The works have a hyperrealism derived from their photographic source, and a hyper artificiality created by it. Heightened by close cropping the works move beyond the parameters of the body and take on a language of landscape. Their ambiguity of form blurs representational distinctions and informs conceptual ones. In line with this the divergent and seemingly contradictory functions of the mouth, of consumption and communication come to the fore.

JIHYE PARK constructs tension within the pose and articulation of her painted female subjects, a tension played out as figures turn and tilt their heads away from view, or conversely adopt directly confrontational poses, penetrable gazes solicited from behind elaborately decorated Venetian masks. The paintings articulate an uncertainty of focus replicating the vastly varied the depth of field found in early photography, and conversely the masks Park uses become a further parallel to this as objects that disguise, omit and obstruct.

YUJUNG CHANG’S reduced paintings of interior spaces, objects and still life compositions are derived from photographs taken by the artist. Closely cropped and intricately composed Chang transposes these into realist paintings that become ’secondary’ conceits as they are themselves photographed and printed onto canvases as the final outcome of the work.

For further information please call: 0207 033 4480, or email: imyuprojects@gmail.com
Opening hours: Tuesday - Saturday 12-6 or by appointment

Links:

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BAKS 2008 Cambridge Conference: first announcement

16-Jun-08

THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR KOREAN STUDIES
2008 Biennial Conference

‘The Koreas at 60: Looking Back, Looking Forward’
FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT

The Association will host its biennial conference at Clare College, the University of Cambridge from Monday 8 September to Wednesday 10 September.

The Keynote Speaker on the evening of 8 September will be Prof. Meredith Jung-En Woo, Dean of Arts and Sciences at the University of Virginia, USA. There will be a plenary panel of diplomats and scholars on the first day to discuss current affairs on the Korean peninsula, followed by a series of papers on topics of historical and contemporary interest to be given by British and international scholars. The Conference will begin with the Reception at 6:00PM on Monday, and conclude at 12.30 on Wednesday.

Further particulars on the Conference arrangements and the schedule of papers will be published on the BAKS website shortly.

For information regarding registration and to secure a place at the conference, please contact:

Dr. John Swenson-Wright
BAKS 2008 Biennial Conference Organiser
Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies
University of Cambridge
Sidgwick Avenue
Cambridge CB3 9BA
email jhs22 at cam dot ac dot uk

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Korean Film in Edinburgh

15-Jun-08

Films by Koreans, films about Koreans.

At the Edinburgh Film Festival:

The Mouse Trap (Gee-dut)
23 JUN 14:00
24 JUN 21:15
Woon Han / South Korea / 2007 / 6 mins
Showing as part of International Animation 1

The Juche Idea
24 JUN 17:30
25 JUN 21:45
Jim Finn / United States of America / 2008 / 62 mins
Art? Propaganda? Dubious cultural profiling? North Korean political kitsch explored…

Cadaver (Haebuhak-gyosil)
23 JUN 22:00
27 JUN 23:45
Derek Son / South Korea / 2007 / 111 mins
The hot new South Korean horror – catch it first here.

Milky Way Liberation Front
19 JUN 20:00
26 JUN 15:00
Yoon Seong-ho / South Korea / 2007 / 101 mins
Are you ready for South Korea’s Living in Oblivion?

Life Track
23 JUN 20:15
25 JUN 19:15
Jin Guang-hao / South Korea, China / 2007 / 99 mins
A stunning visual poem about lives lived against unimaginable odds.

With a Girl of Black Soil
23 JUN 19:45
24 JUN 19:00
Jeon Soo-il / South Korea, France / 2007 / 88 mins
A South Korean drama infused with the honesty of NeoRealism and Truffaut’s humanism.

Links

Filed in Edinburgh 2008, Events news, Film, Uncategorized | Comments (0) »

Korean Studies Publishing in Europe - SOAS Workshop

12-Jun-08

Please find below the details of a Korean Studies Publishing in Europe Workshop and book launch taking place on Monday 16 June 2008.

The event will take place at SOAS in the Khalili Lecture theatre at 1pm. It coincides with the publication of the “Selected Writings of Han Yong-un” by Global Oriental, stalwarts of Korean Studies publishing, a representative of whom will be speaking at the conference. Also represented will be Saffron Books - a niche publisher with a Korean specialism - and Brill, who publish the Korea Yearbook among other things. There’s a review of one of Saffron’s publications coming very soon on LKL, just as soon as I can check a fact.

Click on the below for a full-size version of the flyer

Publishing workshop flyer

Details of the Han Yong-un book from the Global Oriental website:

This volume concentrates on translations of Han Yongun’s principal non-literary works, which are published here in English for the first time, focusing on his ideas for the revitalization of Korean Buddhism in the modern world, the nature of Buddhism as a religion, a critique of atheist movements fashionable among the communists of his time, together with his memoirs of his early life and travels.

One of Korea’s most eminent Buddhists and political activists in the independence movement during the long years of Japan’s colonization of his country, Han Yongun – sobriquet ‘Manhae’ (1879-1944), was a prolific writer and outstanding poet, known especially for his poetry collection Nim ui ch’immuk (‘The Silence of the Lover’).

Selected Writings of Han Yongun, published in collaboration with The Academy of Korean Studies, also contains supportive introductory essays on Manhae’s life, his relationship with socialist ideas as well as the significance of some of the ideas discussed in the translated writings.

Students and researchers in Korean Studies, Studies in Buddhism, in particular Zen Buddhism, and Comparative Religions will find this collection an invaluable source of reference.

Full details of the conference programme are as follows:

1.00pm Opening remarks (Anders Karlsson)

1.10pm Session 1: Scholarship and translation across borders (Chair: Grace Koh)

  • Keith Howard: ‘Korean and Western Scholarship: Divergence or Convergence’
  • Anders Karlsson: ‘Publishing Korean literature in Swedish’

2.40pm Tea and coffee

3.00pm Session 2: Publishers’ roundtable (Chair: Jim Hoare)

  • With short presentations from Sajid Rizvi (Saffron Books), Albert Hofstadt (Brill) and Paul Norbury (Global Oriental)

4.00pm Tea and coffee

4.20pm Session 3: Providing materials on Korea for university students (Chair: Jaehoon Yeon / Owen Miller)

  • Vladimir Tikhonov: ‘Our own textbook problem: Korean history textbooks in English’
  • Charlotte Horlyck: ‘Publishing on Korean art history’

6.00pm Finish

6.30-8.00pm Book Launch for Selected Writings of Han Yongun (in Khalili Lecture Theatre foyer). The book launch will include a talk by the translator Prof. Tikhonov, a Korean dance performance and a wine reception.

Filed in Books, Events news, SOAS | Comments (0) »

War Stories

10-Jun-08

The Korean War started in June 1950, and the Korean Cultural Centre has selected the War as the theme for the two films to be screened there this month.

Taegukgi posterThe first, on 12 June, is Taegukgi (태극기 휘날리며, also known as Brotherhood, or even Brotherhood of War), by Kang Je gyu (2004), while later in the month on 26 June will be Welcome to Dongmakgol, (웰컴 투 동막골) directed by Park Kwang-hyeon (2005). The two films could not be more different, but in their way are both a strong contrast to films about the Korean war made in the recent past.

From the late 50s through to the 70s, to generalise probably rather too much, South Korean films about the war were action-oriented with a and left no room for doubt as to who the good guys were. Directors who took a more nuanced approach could end up in trouble: Director Lee Man Hee was arrested in 1965 for portraying communists in too favourable a light in Seven Women Prisoners, which served as a warning to others to toe the party line.

From the 1980s, films began to explore other aspects of the conflict, its background and its aftermath. In the 1990s, Im Kwon Taek looked at the pre-war struggles in Taebaek Mountains (1994), while others examined the post-war relations with US troops (Kim Ki-duk, Address Unknown, 2001; Lee Kwang-mo, Spring in my home town, 1998).

Taegukgi still

Taegugki is a dramatic switch to confronting the horrors of the war itself, focusing on the impact of the war on two brothers (Jang Dong-gun and Won Bin).

Synopsis: Jin-tae shines shoes in order to save money to send his younger brother Jin-suk to university. Their mother runs a noodle shop, wishing the best for her two sons even though things have been tough since her husband has passed away. Sending Jin-suk to university has become the shining light in their everyday routine. At the start of the Korean War (25th June 1950), Jin-suk is unwillingly conscripted into the war. Jin-tae joins the war to save his brother and send him back home. Without money or influence, the only hope to save his brother is for Jin-tae to enlist in suicidal missions in order to earn the Medal of Honor. The medal will guarantee Jin-suk’s release. Jin-suk fails to understand his brother’s actions and misinterprets them as a dangerous mix of patriotism and obsession with fame and glory. It is only at the fatal end that Jin-suk realizes the truth of his brother’s sacrifice.

We are subjected to a relentless portrayal of the brutality of the fighting and the impossibility of the situation that non-combatabts found themselves in when their town was taken over by one army or the other. Not for the faint-hearted, this film is interesting for its shift from a black and white portrayal of North / South relations to shades of grey, and also (as is required by the film’s message) for its focus on solely the Korean participants in the war. The film will be introduced by a British veteran of the Korean War, who will give his own perspective on the movie.

Dongmakgol still

Dongmakgol posterMuch more light-hearted, but similar in its shades of grey in its depiction of North / South relations in the middle of the war itself, is Welcome to Dongmakgol, in which a small number of soldiers from both sides - including one US airman - happen to end up in a mysterious village which seems to have been forgotten by time – and by the war.

Synopsis: During the Korean War, soldiers from the US, North and South Korea come to a peaceful village, Dongmakgol. At first, they confront each other but soon, they start to mix with the villagers. But now the time has come when they must carry out their duties.

The enemies are able to work together to save what seems more important than their loyalties to their own sides, and seek to defend the ancient village from the destructive forces coming from outside.

Taegukgi screens at 7pm on 12 June, and will be introduced by a British Korean War veteran. Welcome to Dongmakgol screens at 7pm on 26 June. Pre-registration for both is required by contacting the KCC in the normal way.

Filed in DPRK, Events news, Film, KCC Film Club, Kang Je-gyu | Comments (0) »

Prospects for Korea’s Energy Diplomacy - Chatham House

08-Jun-08

Notice of this weeks Korea Discussion Group Meeting at Chatham House

Korea Discussion Group
Thursday 12 June 2008
1.15-2.30
Lunch – 12.45 (£10)

Prospects for Korea’s Energy Diplomacy

SPEAKER: DR Jae-Seung LEE, Associate Dean and Associate Professor at Korea University

CHAIR: DR JIM HOARE, Chargé d’Affaires, British Embassy in Pyongyang, DPRK (2001-2003)

Dr Lee is currently an Associate Dean and Associate Professor in the division of International Studies at Korea University. Before joining the University, he served as professor at the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security (IFANS), Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. He received Ph.D. in Political Science from Yale University. As a scholar of international political economy, Dr Lee has published a number of books and articles regarding Korea, East Asia and Europe. His current research covers energy security and Korea’s energy diplomacy. He is currently a member of the Policy Advisory Board of the Presidential Secretariat and is a Managing Director of the Korea Energy Forum.

The speaker will talk on the record, the discussion will be held under the Chatham House Rule.

The Korea Discussion Group is made possible thanks to the generous support provided by The Korea Foundation

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Dano Festival 2008: final programme details

06-Jun-08

Dano 2008 FlyerHere’s the final schedule for the Dano Festival in Trafalgar Square on Sunday 8 June.

Bear in mind that last-minute on-the-ground logistics may lead to adjustments to the timings and running order, but this is as close to final as we’ll get:

1pm – Korean food stalls and workshops open
1:30~ 2:00 Parade – Noridan (an environmental percussion band)
2:00~2:30 Traditional Korean Musical Part 1 - Taroo
2:30~2:40 Traditional Korean Dance - Lee Chul Jin
2:40~3:00 Traditional Korean Musical Part 2 - Taroo
3:00~3:10 Ritual Ceremony - Lee Chul Jin
3:10~3:20 Opening ceremony - Alan Timblick [1]
3:20~3:50 Noridan
3:50~4:20 Guy Barker Quintet
4:20~4:30 VIP messages - Korean Ambassador, Representative of GLA
4:30~5:00 Tomi Kita (Los Angeles-based electronica band)
5:00~5:30 Yoon Band (one of Korea’s best-known rock groups)
5:30~6:00 Finale

Thanks to Justina Jang of the Korean Cultural Promotion Agency (KPCA) for all her work in putting this on. Assembling all these artists and activities in one place at one time with limited resources and funding is no small task.


Links:

  • Click here for a list of all articles on LKL about the Dano Summer Festival 2008
  1. As well as being on the board of KCPA, the organizers of this event, Alan Timblick OBE is head of Seoul Global Centre, a publicly-funded organization established to help foreigners in Korea. He was head of Barclays Bank in Korea for many years[back]
Filed in Dano 2008, Events news | Comments (1) »

Return of Millennium Dream

03-Jun-08

FlyerLast year the ceramic artists of North Gyeongsang province held an exhibition just off Regent Street entitled Millennium Dream, Millennium Light. This year they return to a gallery in New Malden – coinciding nicely with the first week of the New Malden Arts Festival.

As last year, the work will include that by renowned masters. Click on the image to the right for more information.

The exhibition is at New Days Gallery, 2 Alric Avenue, New Malden, KT3 4JN, 5-10 June. Opening hours 10am – 5pm.

Links

Map

Filed in Ceramics, Events news, Millennium Dream | Comments (1) »

Book now for some outrageously fun evenings

29-May-08

A regular feature of the summer evenings is the SOAS world music summer school.

Two years ago I went along to the Samulnori summer school run by the excellent Dulsori and had a ball. Last year, LKL woman of the year 2006 Rowan Pease went along with her daughter and had a whale of a time. This year it’s your turn.

Dulsori thumbnailKorean Samulnori Percussion
Dulsori Ensemble
Date: 7 July 2008, Time: 6:00 PM
Finishes: 11 July 2008, Time: 8:00 PM

Venue: Russell Square: College Buildings

Type of Event: Summer School

Series: Summer Music School Timetable

Course Dates: 07-11 July, Mon-Fri 6-8pm
Course Fee: £75 (concs £55)

Samulnori is the contemporary form of a rural percussion tradition stretching back into antiquity. Today, Samulnori is the most popular style in the Korean traditional music scene, equally at home in the countryside or on urban stages. The rhythms are said to create balance in the cosmos, combining yin and yang.

Instruments will be provided. With members of the Dulsori Ensemble.

Contact email: musicevents@soas.ac.uk
Contact Tel: +44 (0)20 7898 4500
Contact Fax: +44 (0)20 7898 4519
Organised by: Department of Music

Here’s Dulsori in action, captured by Samuel Cho at last year’s Chuseok festivities at the British Museum:

Dulsori at the British Museum

Links

Filed in Dulsori, Events news, SOAS | Comments (0) »

Top banking watchdog in town. You too can quiz him

27-May-08

Dr Jun Kwang-wooDr Jun Kwang Woo, the Chairman of the Korean Financial Services Commission, is in Paris and London this week for a range of meetings, including the UK finance minister and the FSA.

He will also be speaking to the Korea Discussion Group at Chatham House on Friday afternoon at 4pm. His subject is Korea’s responses to challenges from the global financial markets. The gathering will be chaired by Dr John Llewellyn, Senior Economic Policy Advisor at Lehman Brothers. Interested parties can join the discussion group by pre-registering (details at the bottom of this article). Further background on Dr Jun’s talk:

Developments in international financial markets have brought opportunities for faster growth and expansion. At the same time, developments also mean that the knock-on effects of financial crises spread faster. In this regard, Dr Jun will share his views on changes and challenges facing global financial markets today and elaborate on Korea’s plans to meet these challenges effectively under the new administration.

Dr Jun was appointed Chairman of Korea’s Financial Services Commission, a cabinet-level position, by President Lee in February this year. Previously he was head of Deloitte Korea and served as Korea’s ambassador for international finance (source: JoongAng Ilbo)

No doubt HSBC’s bid for Korea Exchange Bank will loom large in one or more of Dr Jun’s meetings this week: the front-page article in yesterday’s FT that HSBC is getting cold feet about the deal was likely politically timed to coincide with Dr Jun’s visit, but given past pronouncements from Seoul that Lone Star’s involvement with KEB needs to be sorted out first there doesn’t seem to be much wiggle-room without there being a volte-face. However, Dr Jun reportedly made some encouraging noises at a press conference at the Seoul Foreign Correspondents’ Club on 29 April.

Other items on the agenda? Given the new “CEO President” administration, expect a message that Korea is open for business and open for investment. Expect some discussion of the Capital Markets Consolidation Act, effective in 2009. The Act was pushed at the KRX / Daewoo Securities investors conference in London two weeks ago (12 May) as a major step forward in the development of the Korean financial services industry [1].

Dr Jun can also expect to be asked questions about precisely how foreigner-friendly is the system of Korean financial regulation.

Observations made in the past have concerned:

  1. Demanding requirements in relation to the number of local directors to be appointed
  2. Thorough (over-thorough?) supervision of local operations of foreign banks
  3. A punctilious application of data security standards, possibly stricter than those applying in other markets.

None of these factors, however, seem to stop foreign banks from wanting to do business in Korea, and certainly in respect of the first two, these charges are equally applicable to other jurisdictions past or present. Korean bank supervisors would not be alone in wanting to maintain a close watch on foreign-owned banks which have a significant local market share.

Those wishing to attend the discussion at Chatham House (4:00 – 5:00pm, Friday 30th May) need to pre-register by emailing the Asia programme coordinator, asia [at] chathamhouse [dot] org [dot] uk, giving their name, details of their affiliation and their phone number. Alternatively you can register at the Chatham House website here.

Links:

  1. If anyone can lay their hands on a decent summary in English of what the Act does, please let me know. I can’t find anything via the normal internet searches[back]
Filed in Business, Chatham House, Events news, KEB | Comments (0) »

LKL seeks Cambridge correspondent

26-May-08

This Saturday (May 31) I’m faced with the choice between

(a) a jaunt to Cambridge for a fascinating half-day conference on how history is portrayed in current Asian media; and

(b) a second-rate monster movie in London.

Guess where my priorities lie.

So if anyone wants to volunteer to go along to the conference and write up the key points for this site, please get in touch.

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Im Sang Soo faces London grilling

26-May-08

Korean film director Im Sang Soo is participating in two Q&A sessions this week: Friday at the KCC and Saturday at the ICA, the latter in conjunction with the screening of The President’s Last Bang.

It has been said that

Im Sang Soo is practically the only director now making films that take a long look at the lives of contemporary Koreans without losing their historical sense … There are few texts as good at understanding the sensibilities and concerns of modern Koreans as the films of Im Sang Soo. [1]

Director Im refers to his most recent three films as his “Modern History Trilogy”.

The most obviously “historical” film in that trilogy is The President’s Last Bang (그때 그사람들, 2005, roughly translated as “Cometh the hour, cometh the man”), which screens as part of the Tiger Asian Film Festival soon.

The synopsis provided by the Korean Film Council, KOFIC, doesn’t give much away:

In the 1970s Korea, a strong military goverment is suppressing the people. However, the president is always too busy having parties for no apparent reason and many political parties are looking for a chance to take over. Members of the KCIA (Korean Central Intelligence Agency) are slowly getting fed up with taking care of the president’s dalliances. They hatch a scheme to assassinate the president. After two bullets are fired, the country is about to take an unexpected turn.

The film is an irreverent look at the last day of Park Chung-hee’s life, and does not pretend to historical accuracy. But the film opens and closes with some documentary footage which, in the usually-seen version of the film, is cut. The film came under attack from elements of the Korean press and from President Park’s son, Park Ji-man, and one of the outcomes of the resulting legal battle was the excision of the documentary footage which, it was argued, might lead to confusion between fact and fiction.

The version of the film to be shown at the Tiger film festival is, reportedly, the rarely-seen full, uncut version.

Im Sang Soo

The other two films in the “Modern History Trilogy” are The Old Garden (오래된 정원, 2006) and A Good Lawyer’s Wife (바람난 가족, 2003), which ranks very near the top of my own all-time favourite Korean films.

Im started his film career as assistant to another Im, the prolific director Im Kwon Taek, working on such films as Son of the General and Fly High, Run Far. His solo debut came in 1998 with Girl’s Night Out (처녀들의 저녁식사), followed by Tears (눈물) in 2001. The first of these films shocked the Korean cinema-going public with some of its explicit dialogue between three single women talking about what turned them on. The original title of Tears, which like Jang Sung-woo’s Timeless, Bottomless Bad Movie, focuses on delinquent teenagers, was Bad Sleep - a euphemism for sex - while a rough translation of Im’s third film (A Good Lawyer’s Wife) is Adulterous Family. Im therefore jokingly refers to his first three films as his “sex trilogy”.

Come and quiz Director Im about sex and history this week. Friday 30 May, 7pm at the Korean Cultural Centre and Friday 31st May, 8:30pm at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, where the Q&A is combined with a screening of The President’s Last Bang

  1. Hun Moonyung in in the preface to KOFIC’s just-published book on Im Sang Soo, the latest in their Korean Film Director series[back]
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An evening with immigration lawyers Laura Devine

25-May-08

Another event from the Anglo Korean Society’s packed programme:

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.

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Tiger Festival comes to London and Brighton

22-May-08

Three Korean films are coming to London and Brighton as part of the Tiger Far East Film Festival

(1) The controversial CGI monster pic D-War (Shim Hyung-rye, 심형래, 2007)

D-War still

Synopsis (from KOFIC): A thousand years ago, in a little village on the Korean peninsula, a child of destiny is born with a Youijoo (a magic stone that bestows omnipotence) in her bosom. To pursue the occult Youijoo, Imoogi comes to earth from Heaven with a tremendous number of followers and begins to launch attacks against the people of the earth. A thousand years later in downtown L.A., a mysterious natural disaster takes place. While reporting on the case, a CNN reporter, Tom, begins to sense the colossal legend behind the chain of events.

London (ICA): 31 May, 4pm
Brighton (Duke of York): Not showing

(2) The macabre musical Fox Family 구미호 가족 (Lee Hyeong-gon (이형곤), 2006)

Still from Fox Family

Synopsis (from KOFIC): The nine-tailed fox is a mythical shape-shifting creature which can become a human being in its 1000th year if it eats the liver of a human being. A family of such foxes open up a circus and transform themselves in the hope of capturing human beings. One day, there occurs a strange case of torso murder which becomes the biggest issue of their day, and the fox family is caught up in the middle of it. Will the family be able to make their thousand-year dream come true?

London (ICA): 5 June, 8:45pm
Brighton (Duke of York): 21 June, 1:30pm

(3) The black comical take on the assassination of Park Chung Hee President’s Last Bang 그때 그사람들 (Im Sang-soo (임상수) 2004)

Still from Presidents Last Bang

Synopsis (from KOFIC): In the 1970s Korea, a strong military goverment is suppressing the people. However, the president is always too busy having parties for no apparent reason and many political parties are looking for a chance to take over. Members of the KCIA(Korean Central Intelligence Agency) are slowly getting fed up with taking care of the president’s dalliances. They hatch a scheme to assassinate the president. After two bullets are fired, the country is about to take an unexpected turn.

Director Im will be present at the screening for a Q&A session.

London (ICA): 31 May, 8:30pm
Brighton (Duke of York): 13 June, 6:30pm

The selection of non-Korean films is also worth checking out.

Links

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Trafalgar Square Dano Festival 2008: initial details

19-May-08

Dano 2008 FlyerDANO Korea Summer Festival
Trafalgar Square

Sunday 8 June 2008
1pm to 7pm
FREE EVENT FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY

Trafalgar Square will be transformed into a mini Korea for the annual DANO celebrations on Sunday 8 June. The second DANO Korea Summer Festival provides a fascinating insight into the culture and customs of Korea featuring performances by Korean artists, crafts and music workshops, Korean food and a parade.

The afternoon will culminate in a two hour musical extravaganza with the Yoon Band from Korea, Tomi Kita from the USA and the Guy Barker Quintet from the UK. Tomi Kita will be performing the North Korean pop song Kim Chi for the first time in Europe,while the leading UK jazz composer and trumpeter Guy Barker has written arrangements of traditional Korean music for this special event called The Madang Project (‘Madang’ in Korean means ‘Square’). The Madang Project will be performed in Korea later this year with Korean musicians. The Yoon Band needs no introduction… but for those who need to know more, Saharial introduces their talents in a separate article.

A parade led by traditional Korean performing artists Taroo and Noridan will open the event. Noridan is an unusual percussion group that make instruments out of recycled rubbish and was set up by the City of Seoul to involve disenfranchised young people in arts and culture.

During the afternoon there will be an opportunity for children and the young at heart to make traditional fans called danosun – a key feature of DANO celebrations – as well as participate in music workshops. Authentic Korean food will be served throughout the day.

Ms Justina Jang, President of KCPA, said, “This year, the DANO Korea Summer Festival focuses on environmental issues and artistic collaboration between our two countries. The festival in Trafalgar Square is a chance for everyone to celebrate together and experience what Korean culture has to offer, with a wonderful afternoon of performing arts, crafts, foods and so much more.”

DANO
DANO is the annual summer festival in Korea when Yang energy is thought to be at its highest. In Korea, people celebrating DANO present specially decorated fans called DANOSUN to their friends and family to prepare them for the coming long and humid summer. Men take part in folk games such as Ssireum (Korean wrestling), women are permitted to have a go on traditional swings and people prepare special iris treatments for their hair.

SCHEDULE

1pm – 7pm - Korean food stalls. Check out a variety of traditional food including kimchi, bibimbap and bulgogi. Korean food is well known as being both nutritious and low in calories.
1pm - 6pm - Workshops. Make a Korean fan or try traditional paper folding within the craft workshops. Noridan will also show you how to use your body and rubbish as instruments
1pm - 4pm - A full programme of traditional and contemporary Korean music and dance led by musical troupe Taroo, and a performance by ecological performance group Noridan and Lee Chul Jin
4pm - 6pm - A range of contemporary music including jazz from the Guy Barker Quintet and rock from the Yoon Band and Tomi Kita

Links


Dano 2008 Flyer
Noridan
Taroo and Guy Barker

Tomi Kita and Lee Chul Jin
Yoon Band and Noridan
Location map


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Question mark over Kingston Korean Festival 2008?

18-May-08

The open-air festival on the Fairfield Recreation Ground in Kingston, organised by the Korean Residents Society, usually happens in August every year, though last year it was June. This year, the date is not yet confirmed, and there are doubts about whether it will be happening at all.

I’ve heard a few inside stories about what’s going on, but it’s long and complicated, and I’m not sure I’ve got the complete picture. So instead, let me relay an old joke which may or may not be of relevance.

Two Korean politicians and two Japanese politicians get shipwrecked on adjacent desert islands. And no, there isn’t an uninhabitable rock midway between the two.

On the Japanese island, the two politicians immediately form a political party and hold an election.

On the Korean island, the two politicians form three political parties: one for each of them, plus a fractious coalition…

Hopefully, there will be a more satisfactory punch line in due course. I’ll keep you all posted as I hear more – though I’m not too well connected with the community itself.

Links

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Antique Korean maps to be exhibited at KCC

16-May-08

Something completely different at the KCC in May-June, and rather interesting: a collection of Choson dynasty maps, in an exhibition organised by the KCC’s librarian Eunjeong Shin. The exhibition has an associated education programme aimed at local schools, while for the grown-ups there will be a lecture from the V&A’s Beth McKillop. Full details below.

Map Exhibition flyer

Period: Wednesday 21 May – Friday 13 June
Venue: Korean Cultural Centre UK
Tel. +44 (0)20 7004 2600/ Email: info at kccuk dot org dot uk
Website: http://london.korean-culture.org

THE EXHIBITION
Antique Korean Maps, Since 1600 is an exhibition of Korean maps made in the Choson dynasty, to be held at the gallery of the Korean Cultural Centre UK. Old Korean maps embody the principles of natural topography pursued by the Koreans of the time, who perceived mankind and nature as an organic whole. The exhibition offers an exotic opportunity to imagine how the Koreans drew maps with the driving passions behind the work of compiling maps.

A varied programme of events accompanies this exhibition. Highlights include:

LECTURE - MAP, REVERING THE LAND
Wednesday 4 June 2008, 18.00
by BETH MCKILLOP, Director of Collections and Keeper, Asian Department, V&A Museum
Subject: Old Korean maps show Korean people’s reverence for their land, and the maps’ artistic value
Advance booking advised via email info at kccuk dot org dot uk or telephone 020 7004 2600
Cost: Free

SPECIAL ITEM - KOREAN MAP QUILT
Multi-purpose hall, Korean Cultural Centre UK
Interacting with art through the exhibition, using an antique Korean map

EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMME - MAPPING KOREA
Saturday 31 May 2008, 14.00 / Saturday 7 June 2008, 14.00
Schoolchildren aged 7-13 individual or group applications welcomed.
Introduction to Korea’s geography; finding the sites of places from Korean folklore / Drawing maps of Korea using reusable materials / Assembling a jigsaw puzzle of Korea
Application: From 9.00 on Thursday 1 May until 17.00 on Wednesday 14 May
For application forms and enquiries: Email info at kccuk dot org dot uk or Telephone 020 7004 2600
Cost: Free

INTERACTIVE PROGRAMME - A LAND OF WISHES
Visitors to the event write their wishes on ‘wish paper’ and stick it on a map of Korea.
To break with tradition to attract visitors with a truly interactive event.

OPENING HOURS
Mon - Fri 10.00 - 18.00
Sat 11.00 - 17.00

KOREAN CULTURAL CENTRE UK
Ground Floor, Grand Buildings, 1-3 Strand, London WC2N 5EJ
Tel. +44 (0)20 7004 2600
Email info at kccuk dot org dot uk

Links

  • PDF of the exhibition’s Flyer
Filed in Antique Korean Maps, Events news, Historical, KCCUK | Comments (2) »

A busy few weeks coming up!!!

15-May-08

We’re only halfway through May, but I thought I’d give you some warning that we’ve got a pretty busy few weeks ahead of us. I’ll be posting stuff about all of this this site in due course, but this is just a quickie in the interim. I don’t have the full details of some of these events yet…

Film wise, there’s the Tiger Asian film festival at the end of May. There’s the controversial D-War to look forward to, plus “an amusing macabre musical featuring breakdancing zombies”. Wacky or what? Director Im Sang Soo will be there to answer questions on The President’s Last Bang. And of course there’s the regular film screenings at the KCC.

Also at the KCC there will be an exhibition of Korean antique maps starting soon, with a lecture about them in early June.

Korea will be taking over Trafalgar Square on June 8th for the Dano festival, as last year. One of the headline acts will be the Yoon Band, who will also be playing in a separate gig in Kingston while they’re over here (on 6 June)

Major artist Suh Do-ho will participate in a group show at the Hayward Gallery, Sea-hyun Lee is at the Union Gallery and I-MYU continue their regular exhibitions, while the ceramic artists of north Gyeongsang province will be paying us another visit – they’ll be exhibiting in New Malden in early June.

Also in New Malden in the first half of June is the New Malden festival.

What else? Oh yes, the KCC will be starting its weekly evening classes in beginners Korean sometime in June, while Aidan F-C will be talking at the KCC in late May on the Sunshine policy.

And that’s before I start checking the LKL events calendar to remind myself of what else is coming. Hectic.

Sorry about missing the breakdancing in early May at the Peacock (picture of the Myosung b-boys from Korea below). I didn’t hear about it until after the event. The Financial Times loved it though.

Myosung B-boys

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I Don’t Speak Very Much

13-May-08

A notice of I-MYU’s May show, starting this Thursday.

I Don’t Speak Very Much
Kijune Park / Rui Matsunaga / Miho Sato
15 May – 7 June 2008
Opening hours: Tuesday – Saturday 12-6pm or by appointment

I-MYU Projects presents I Don’t Speak Very Much, an exhibition of new works by Korean artist Kijune Park and Japanese born artists Rui Matsunaga and Miho Sato. The works are drawn together by a reduction of visual language and a quiet consolidation of personal and collective cultural drift. The statement ‘I Don’t Speak Very Much’ implicates the artist, the viewer and the artwork, turning each to the subject and consideration of the title. In so doing it unhinges a cultural landscape in which personal and collective experience are understood to be increasingly alienated and alienating.

Kijune Park: Piggy BoyKIJUNE PARK presents a series of sculptural works, carved wooden figures that take on the form of characters from children’s television or animation. Bear-like these pieces alter in scale between large child-size pieces, becoming almost like costumed kids, to intricately small scale where they exist on strange architectural platforms and improbable raised structures. Across these works the face of the creature is flat and mask-like, each a self-portrait of the artist that replicates knowingly the facial expression prescribed to Buddha, the central symbol of Asian culture. In consequence there is an awkward conflict in these deadpan adult expressions that make the works both intimate and remote.

Rui Matsunaga: Machine DreamRUI MATSUNAGA’S drawings and paintings are in contrast frenetic renderings of a continually fracturing yet increasingly collective society. A society that slips irreverently between east and west in which images are not simply devoid of authenticity but also generated without cultural currency, they are lost and removed. Matsunaga criss-crosses not only the here-and-now, but also the past and the present, bringing manga and mythology into a cybernetic amalgam of meditation, cherry blossom and utopian aspiration.

Miho Sato: EncounterMIHO SATO presents a series of reduced paintings in which isolated figures and singular objects punctuate essentially void spaces, offering both clarity of image / representation and playfulness of content. The reflected body and fin of a shark in water for example, Killer Whale (2007), also takes on the shape and form of an aeroplane, enabling the reduced and apparently simple to resonate with intrigue and affecting humour.

Links

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The Way Home screens at the KCC

30-Apr-08

The KCC’s theme for its two film screenings in May is the family. The first of the films, The Way Home (집으로…) was the surprise low-budget hit of 2002.

Jibeuro still

This is director Lee Jeong-hyang’s second film, her first being the gentle rom-com Art Museum by the Zoo, whose draw was the star actress Shim Eun-ha. For The Way Home, Lee used completely untried actors - with the exception of Yoo Seung-ho, who plays the spoilt brat.

The synopsis from koreanfilm.org:

The Way Home opens with a single mother who, faced with financial troubles, decides to leave her seven-year son with his mute grandmother in the countryside. Having run away from home at a young age, the mother introduces the two to each other for the first time and then leaves for the city. The boy is furious at this upheaval in his life, taking out his frustrations by misbehaving and making wild demands of his grandmother.

This is a gentle, touching film. If you think Korean film is Oldboy and Asia Extreme, this one will provide a different slant. And, for something completely different, read this article which compares The Way Home with big budget action blockbuster Swiri.

The film screens on 8 May at 7pm, and as usual pre-booking is required by ringing 020 7004 2600 or emailing info at kccuk dot org dot uk.

Links

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An evening with Warwick Morris

24-Apr-08

News of an upcoming event organised by the Anglo Korean Society:

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 MorrisWarwick 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

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