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March For The Beloved – in memory of Gwangju

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by Philip Gowman on 18 May, 2013

in 1960-1993 | Asides | VoDs

On the anniversary of the 18 May 1980 uprising in Gwangju, here is song which became its unofficial anthem. It was written in 1982 by Kim Jong-ryul for his friends, a couple who were murdered in the uprising. The title is 임을 위한 행진곡 or “March for the beloved”, sometimes translated as “March for the [...]

Tagged as: Kwangju

Kim Sung Ok: A Literature of and for the Self – Steve Capener at SOAS

by Philip Gowman 13 May 2013

On his way to a conference on Alternative Modernisms in Cardiff, Steve Capener gives a talk on one of my favourite authors. Kim Sung Ok: A Literature of and for the Self Steve Capener (Assistant Professor, Seoul Women’s University) 14 May 2013, 5:15 – 7:00 PM Russell Square Room 4421 Abstract After he took power [...]

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Kim Young-ha: Black Flower – an imaginative re-telling of a fascinating byway of Korean history

by Philip Gowman 13 March 2013

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Kim Young-ha: Black Flower Originally published in Korean in 2003 This edition Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2012, 305pp, Translated by Charles La Shure Black Flower tells the fascinating story of a thousand or so Korean emigrants who sailed from Jemulpo (now Incheon) in 1905 in search of jobs in Mexico, and ended up founding a short-lived [...]

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Happy 150th Birthday, James Scarth Gale

by Philip Gowman 19 February 2013

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James Scarth Gale – missionary, translator, and one of the founders of the Royal Asiatic Society Korea Branch – was born 150 years ago on 19 February 1863. His birthday has been marked by an upgraded Wikipedia page, a special page with photos on Brother Anthony’s site, and a memorial service at Yeondong Church (which [...]

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SOAS Seminar: The Korean Police Prepare for War, 1946-1950

by Philip Gowman 21 January 2013

The second SOAS seminar of the spring term: Martyrs and Murderers: The Korean Police Prepare for War, 1946-1950 Konrad Lawson (Max Weber Postdoctoral Fellow, European University Institute) Date: 25 January 2013 Time: 5:15 – 7:00 PM Venue: Russell Square, College Buildings, Room G50 Speaker Biography Konrad Lawson is a Max Weber postdoctoral fellow at the [...]

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SOAS Seminar: Korean Cannibalism

by Philip Gowman 17 January 2013

SOAS kicks off its Spring term of evening seminars with an unusual subject: Korean Cannibalism: Production of Transgression in a Climate of Social Ills Dr Se-Woong Koo (Center for Korean Studies) École des Hautes Études Date: 18 January 2013 Time: 5:15 – 7:00 PM Venue: Russell Square, College Buildings, Room G50 Abstract The Chosǒn Dynasty [...]

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Jiseul – a film to watch out for in 2013

by Philip Gowman 3 January 2013

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It won awards at Busan where it premiered in the 2012 festival, and it will be showing at Sundance and Rotterdam: Jiseul (지슬) – a sombre film about the 1948 Jeju Uprising, written and directed by Jeju resident O Muel (오멸). It might not be an easy film to watch, but it’s an important part [...]

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2012 Travel Diary #22: The Burial Grounds of the Royal Joseon Placentas, and why underfloor heating is not always good for you

by Philip Gowman 3 December 2012

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1 April 2012. Yes, it’s 1 April, and no, this article is not an April Fool’s joke. Sunday in Sancheong town, and the National Assembly election campaign is in full swing. All along the main street, the ppongtchak trucks are parked nose to tail, probably about eight of them. All of them blare out loud [...]

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Book review: So Far from the Bamboo Grove

by Philip Gowman 30 November 2012

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Yoko Kawashima Watkins: So Far from the Bamboo Grove Harper Collins, 1986 Reprinted with letter from the author, 2008 183pp This time last year, Wikileaks revealed that when Mitt Romney, then Governor of Massachussetts, visited Korea in December 2006, one of the topics raised by the Korean Acting Foreign Minister Cho Jung-pyo was this short [...]

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Jerome De Wit at SOAS: Motivations for Writing during the Korean War

by Philip Gowman 28 November 2012

The final free seminar before the Christmas break is as follows: The War Within: Motivations for Writing during the Korean War Jerome De Wit (Leiden University) Date: 7 December 2012 Time: 5:15 PM Venue: Russell Square: College Buildings Room: G50 Abstract The first few months of the Korean War (1950-1953) saw dramatic shifts in the [...]

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2012 Travel Diary #21: Seong Cheol’s birthday, Park Chan-soo’s museum and Gaya period tombs

by Philip Gowman 26 November 2012

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31 March 2012. The impact of the love shots is still fogging my brain when Mr Yoon arrives at 9:30 in the morning. Today, he is accompanied by his wife, who is to join us for the morning. It is, after all, a Saturday, so Mr Yoon is working overtime on behalf of the Sancheong [...]

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Adam Cathcart at SOAS: Sino-North Korean relations in 1940s and 1950s

by Philip Gowman 13 November 2012

The fourth of this season’s free seminars at SOAS: Sino-North Korean relations in the borderland regions in the 1940s and early 1950s Adam Cathcart (Queen’s University, Belfast) Date: 23 November 2012 Time: 5:15 PM Venue: Russell Square: College Buildings Room: G50 Abstract Sino-North Korean relations in the borderland regions in the 1940s and early 1950s [...]

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Andre Schmid at SOAS: moral didactic literature and North Korean history

by Philip Gowman 5 November 2012

The third of this season’s free seminars at SOAS: How does the rise of moral didactic literature fit into narratives of North Korean history? Andre Schmid (University of Toronto) Date: 16 November 2012 Time: 5:15 PM Venue: Russell Square: College Buildings Room: G50 Abstract How to be a good socialist subject? After the Korean War [...]

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Book review: Yi Mun-yol — Our Twisted Hero

by Philip Gowman 19 October 2012

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Yi Mun-yol: Our Twisted Hero Originally published 1987 Translated by Kevin O’Rourke Available on Kindle (Minumsa, 2012) or hard copy (Hyperion Books, 2001) Moving to the provinces from a school in Seoul in which the social hierarchy was one he had lived with all his life, our twelve-year-old hero Han Pyongt’ae is faced with a [...]

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2012 Travel Diary #19: Beopgyesa Temple and those Japanese feng-shui stakes

by Philip Gowman 16 October 2012

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Beopgyesa Temple (법게사) is the highest in Sancheong County and at least the third-highest in Korea. The good people of Sancheong believe that Beopgyesa is the highest temple in South Korea, a claim which is supported by Beopgyesa’s entry on the Cultural Heritage Administration website, where the following text is to be found: “It is [...]

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SOAS public workshop: State Capitalism and Development in East Asia

by Philip Gowman 11 October 2012

A free all-day seminar sponsored by the Centre of Korean Studies at SOAS: State Capitalism and Development in East Asia Speakers Jeong Seongjin (Gyeongsang National University) Lee Jeong-koo (GNU) Gareth Dale (Brunel University) Jamie Allinson (University of Westminster) Owen Miller (SOAS, University of London) Tuesday, 6 November 2012, 10am-5pm Room B111, First Floor, Brunei Gallery, [...]

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Vladimir Tikhonov at SOAS: “Heroes” in Qing China and Korea late C19 / early C20

by Philip Gowman 8 October 2012

The second of the autumn series of Korean studies seminars at SOAS: “Heroes” in Qing China and Korea in the late nineteenth to early twentieth century Vladimir Tikhonov (Oslo University) Date: 19 October 2012 Time: 5:15 PM Venue: Russell Square: College Buildings Room: G50 Abstract Both Liang Qichao (1873-1929) and Sin Ch’aeho (1880-1936) were instrumental [...]

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2012 Travel Diary #16: Silla pagodas, Korea’s first beautiful village, and Nammyeong’s tomb

by Philip Gowman 19 September 2012

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29 March 2012. Today is the day we start the ascent of Jirisan, but first there’s a couple of local sites of interest that I need to visit. First, the two Unified Silla dynasty stone pagodas, which are now the only remnants of Dansoksa, a temple built in the middle of the eighth century. The [...]

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When I give birth to the child in me, who should it call father?

by Philip Gowman 8 September 2012

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This rather beautiful letter, from a pregnant widow to her dead husband in 16th century Andong, has be out there for a while, but has just resurfaced in the blogopshere courtesy of Letters of Note. Do give it a read there, or in the earlier article in archaeology.org. The letter was found on her husband’s [...]

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Gumok, a new musical at the Chelsea Theatre

by Philip Gowman 14 June 2012

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News of an interesting new musical getting an outing for one day only later this month in Chelsea, featuring the stories of the Korean Comfort Women: Gumok Date: 30th June, 2012 Place: Chelsea Theatre (SW10 0DR) Time: 5pm and 8pm Price: Pay what you like (min. £1) Project Team Gumok presents a new musical “Gumok” [...]

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2012 Travel Diary 9: Yun Isang — Victim of the Cold War

by Philip Gowman 29 May 2012

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26 March 2012. For most big Korean cultural events there’s a glossy brochure with a welcome message from various officials and dignitaries. And for the most important events you might expect a welcome message from the Minister of Culture. It is a measure of the sensitivity of the Tongyeong International Music Festival’s association with Yun [...]

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On the anniversary of the 18 May 1980 uprising in Gwangju, here is song which became its unofficial anthem. It was written in 1982 by Kim Jong-ryul for his friends, a couple who were murdered in the uprising. The title is 임을 위한 행진곡 or “March for the beloved”, sometimes translated as “March for the [...] (18-May-13)

To mark the 60th anniversary of the end of the Korean War, LSE IDEAS is organising a conference to discuss the conflict, Monday 3 June 2013, 14:00-18:00. Invited speakers will begin by exploring why the war ended the way it did, and what arrangements were made for the immediate post-war period. The discussion will then [...] (12-May-13)

Why did traffic controller Ri Kyong Sim get rewarded with the title of Hero of the Republic, together with a new flat for herself and her family? Recently she safeguarded the headquarters of the revolution in an unexpected situation by displaying her heroic self-sacrificing spirit of defending the leader resolutely, says the Rodong Sinmun on [...] (10-May-13)

David Guttenfelder is the Associated Press Chief Photographer for Asia. Although he’s now based in Tokyo, last year he spent around 100 days in Pyongyang for AP. His first time on the Korean peninsula was to witness the first of the family reunions between North and South, and his first time in Pyongyang was when [...] (06-May-13)

An interesting Associated Press article on the prevalence of Traditional Korean Medicine (called Koryo Medicine) in North Korea: “Doctors are more interested in Koryo medicine rather than Western medicine because they can get it more easily,” said Ri Hye Yong, who manages [Pyongyang's Man Nyon Pharmacy], opened by the government nearly three decades ago. “It’s [...] (06-May-13)

Each week, Saatchi Online showcases an emerging artist from around the world who is already garnering attention for their work. Taking inspiration from the Saatchi Gallery’s 25-year history of discovering new talent, ‘One To Watch’ presents some of the most exciting artists on Saatchi Online helping collectors to identify strong emerging talent. This week’s ‘One [...] (05-May-13)

It’s the Mayday Bank Holiday weekend, so as usual it’s the B-boy convention at Sadlers Wells. This year, Project Soul is representing Korea, performing on Saturday 4th. More details on the Breakin’ Convention website. (02-May-13)

Via James Pearson of NKNews.org and koreabang.com: North Korean TV is currently broadcasting a concert of Moranbang Band in army uniforms fiddling by a tank. Happy Labour Day! Too fun not to share. (01-May-13)

Go vote for Gate Flowers as MTV Iggy’s artist of the week. Says MTV Iggy: One of the bands we have our eye on is Gate Flowers, winners of both the “Rookie of the Year” and “Best Rock Song” awards in the 2011 Korean Music Awards. Their throwback sound takes the dense guitars of Nirvana-era [...] (21-Apr-13)

There’s a nice interview with Krys Lee, author of Drifting House, on the Asia House website. Drifting House was LKL’s book of the year last year, and so we’re looking forward to seeing Ms Lee at the Asia House Festival of Asian Literature next month. Authors: Krys Lee (17-Apr-13)

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