London Korean Links

Covering things Korean in London and beyond since 2006

Queer East 2023 announces a Focus Korea strand

Hot on the heels of the BFI Flare festival, Queer East this year also has a Korean focus, with eight feature films, six shorts and one VR cinematic experience. The selection includes one UK feature premier, plenty of recent films plus some opportunities to revisit the back catalogue. In a separate post we’ve listed out … [Read More]

Korean movies at BFI Flare

BFI Flare, London’s LGBTQIA+ film festival, this year has four Korean feature films plus one short. There is also a first-come, first-served discussion with some of the Korean film makers. Ticket links – and links to full details with movie synopsis on the BFI website – are below. Discussion: Spotlight on South Korea Saturday 18 … [Read More]

Seoul – London Global Investor Relations Conference

Hosted by the Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) and Foreign Investment Promotion Agency ‘Invest Seoul’, you are invited to Seoul – London Global Investor Relations Conference that gives global finance leaders insight into new finance business and investment opportunities in Seoul, South Korea. We hope that you will participate in this event to meet with Oh … [Read More]

Ra Jong-yil Lecture 2023 – Dr Chung Sye-kyun

As U.S. national power, which has created and supported the international order for the past 70 years, has declined relatively, the international order is now entering a transformational phase. The Pax Americana system, or the American-centered uni-polar system, an international order based on liberalism and rules, no longer works. With the current system not working … [Read More]

Review: Cho Nam-joo – Saha

After the domestic success of Kim Ji-young (2016; English translation by Jamie Chang published in 2020), and of its encouraging sales overseas, it was natural that Cho Nam-joo’s next novel would attract interest. Accordingly, Saha had a slightly shorter journey from Korean into English: after an original publication date in 2019 its English translation came … [Read More]

Book review: Seo Su-jin – Korean Teachers

After what was a fairly downbeat reading experience for us last year, quite by chance we came across the first publication of translated Korean literature from Singapore’s Harriet Press, released without our noticing it in March 2022. Seo Sujin’s debut novel Korean Teachers won the Hankyoreh Literature Award in 2020, and it is encouraging that … [Read More]

Science Engagement with the DPRK: The Mount Paektu Research Centre

BKS members are invited to this talk and drinks reception. Doors open 18.15, Talk and discussion: 18.30, Drinks reception: 19.30 Opening and closing remarks Professor Sir Martyn Poliako FRS, University of Nottingham Martin Uden, Chair, British Korean Society The Mount Paektu Research Centre Professor James Hammond, Birkbeck, University of London Dr Amy Donovan, University of Cambridge … [Read More]

Andong remembers the Queen

The Korea Times has a nice article reminiscing about the Queen’s visit to Andong’s Hahoe Folk Village in 1999, where she celebrated her 73rd birthday. The village has set up a temporary memorial for the Queen for visitors to pay their respects in the period leading up to the state funeral on 19 September. The … [Read More]

Free Chol Soo Lee: theatrical release

In 1970s San Francisco, 20-year-old Korean immigrant Chol Soo Lee is racially profiled and convicted of a Chinatown gang murder. After spending years fighting to survive, investigative journalist K.W. Lee takes a special interest in his case, igniting an unprecedented social justice movement. Nearly five decades later, Free Chol Soo Lee excavates this largely unknown yet essential … [Read More]

Tiger is Coming: Dolpagu

South Korea’s award-winning theatre company Dolpagu presents the UK Premiere of XXL Leotard and Anna Sui Hand Mirror, a groundbreaking theatre production exploring gender and social class across generations.  Junho must keep his secret – he likes to wear women’s leotards. Wearing them stops him stressing about his upcoming college entrance exam. Hee-joo finds out his secret and posts a photo … [Read More]

A Distant Place screens at BFI Flare

Jin-Woo lives a deliberately quiet life in rural Korea, working as a shepherd and looking after his young niece Seol. Though Seol is approaching school age, Jin-Woo keeps their contact with the outside world to a minimum, save for the family that employs him. But everything changes when his college boyfriend Hyeon-min and estranged sister … [Read More]

V+A Korean programme receives boost from MCST

Great news for the V&A’s programme of Korean activities and gallery: V&A announces landmark partnership with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism 17 June 2020: The V&A has today announced a new five-year partnership with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in Korea. This major grant will enable the redevelopment of the museum’s … [Read More]