London Korean Links

Covering things Korean in London and beyond since 2006

Korea.net is looking for bloggers

Korea.net, the Korean government’s online gateway, launched a blog earlier this year at http://blog.korea.net/. They currently have five experienced contributors, but they’re looking to expand their range of content providers by opening up their blog to new applicants. The aim of The Korea Blog is to show the contemporary side of Korea and its culture … [Read More]

Korea Times and National Branding

The Korea Times is currently running an interesting series of articles on Korea’s national brand. The paper has asked a number of foreigners – branding, business, tourism and advertising specialists – to comment on Korea’s perception overseas. Some of the writers are uniquely qualified to provide insights: Simon Anholt, for example, is the man who … [Read More]

Korean publicity: could do better

This post has been simmering in my brain for a while. And it’s been through many versions. The version I choose to publish here is simply a listing of factual observations. The version that would be much more satisfying to write would be the extended rant that speculates as to why it is that Koreans … [Read More]

The Han Style campaign

Realising that the Hallyu may not last for ever, and recognising that the best marketers do not stake the financial health of the company on just one product, the Culture and Tourism ministry earlier this year decided to diversify their product portfolio. Recognising that some of the key differentiating features of Korean culture are designated … [Read More]

“Korea, Sparkling” explained

Hiding at the bottom of the goody-bag we were handed at the Korea Tourism Organisation’s “Korea, Sparkling” launch ten days ago was a little booklet which you could almost have missed. But for those who are puzzled as to what “Korea, Sparkling” is all about, the booklet contains some of the answers. It is published … [Read More]

Think Korea 2006 – your feedback requested

Alice Bennell, Peter Corbishley and I went round to the Embassy yesterday to give some feedback to the organisers of Think Korea 2006. We discussed many of the issues set out in my post of 30 December. We briefly talked about the embassy’s recently re-launched website. I visited it today and found that they are … [Read More]

Korean marketing moves up a level

Yesterday’s (London) Times had a surprise in store. At the bottom of the front page was a promise of the following material in the supplement: “Dear Bel Mooney: I need sex by arrangement”. But the supplement was not the usual Times2. It was a 12-page “Focus Report” on South Korea — A cultural rebirth. It … [Read More]

Think Korea website now up & running

It’s taken a while, but here it is: www.thinkkorea.org.uk. It seems to be part of the Korean Embassy website. And it’s now coming up on google. It must be a recent creation, because I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve googled in search of “Think Korea 2006” and only found my own site. … [Read More]

Think, Korea

I can’t help feeling that the Koreans have been taken for a bit of a ride with this Think Korea 2006 thing. I’d be interested to know for sure which government is investing more money in the programme, but I’d be willing to bet that it’s the Koreans. And let’s look at who’s getting what … [Read More]

Korean marketing skills

Korea may be the most wired nation on earth (or is it the second-most?), but Koreans in London have yet to embrace new technology. As noted in previous rants, there has been absolutely nothing official on the web which gives any decent information on the Korean concert in Croydon on 1 May. Well, yesterday I … [Read More]