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In the news

Arirang sells French Connection

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by Philip Gowman on 10 March, 2010

in Business, In the news, Korean traditional music, VoDs

“This is The Woman,” opens a new ad for French Connection. “The Woman of All Women.” The voiceover is rather reminiscent of British children’s TV programming from the 1960’s (Watch with Mother). The footage is in black and white, adding to the slightly dated feel. And in the background, we hear, as if in the [...]

Tagged as: Arirang

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No longer the underdog?

1 March 2010 In the news
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While Kim Yu-na’s victory – now celebrated across every media – still hung in the balance, an unusual article about Korea appeared in the Financial Times. It was distinguishable from most articles about Korea in that a) it did not primarily concern the situation in the North and b) it was pretty much unreservedly upbeat.
Its [...]

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Why LKL said nothing about Kim Yu-na. Until now.

26 February 2010 In the news
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“Right now the biggest thing in Korea is the Olympic skater Kim Yu-na. It’s a mania for us Koreans,” was a message left via the LKL contact form by a UK-based correspondent, shortly before the free skating element of the women’s figure skating event in the wee small hours this morning.
I think I knew that. [...]

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Korean pensioners buy in to London

4 February 2010 Business
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At a total cost £1,040.5m, the National Pension Service of South Korea, the fifth biggest pension fund in the world, has bought three properties in London. These are half of a six storey commercial building in Grosvenor place, followed by a tower at 88 Wood Street in the heart of the City. But the [...]

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North Korean human rights and money laundering discussed in the Lords

3 February 2010 DPRK
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A transcript of the discussion in the House of Lords earlier this week
North Korea: Human Rights
Question
2.57 pm Tuesday February 2nd 2010
Tabled by Lord Alton of Liverpool
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of alleged human rights violations in North Korea following the publication of the report by the National Human Rights Commission in [...]

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LKL Weekly Tweets, 2010-02-01

1 February 2010 Business
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I wonder how much KIA had to pay for all those advertising billboards at the Australian Open men's final? #
Park Ji-sung scores in Man U's 3-1 rout of Arsenal. http://bit.ly/dgCYoK #
President Lee promotes Korean food at Davos (and pays his wife a nice compliment) http://bit.ly/9yiX5u #
A whole month has gone by without an events notice [...]

Companies:
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Samsung now the biggest technology company in the world

30 January 2010 Business
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‘All hail Samsung Electronics’ says the Lex column in the Financial Times on the 28th of January. The news (reported fully here) that Samsung Electronics has overtaken Hewlett Packard as the world’s largest technology company may come as a surprise, especially to those who regard Samsung as a poor relation of the erstwhile dominant Japanese [...]

Companies:
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Is Lady Vengeance REALLY the best Korean film of the decade?

8 November 2009 Film
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That’s what The Times seems to think. I’ve never had much confidence in that paper when it comes to Korean film (one of their critics in particular, Wendy Ide, seems to have a complete downer on the country), but I’m not sure that many informed Korean film buffs would agree with the choice of Lady [...]

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LKL Weekly Tweets, 2009-08-24

24 August 2009 Bong Joon-ho
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Congratulations to Yang Yong-eun on winning the US PGA golf championship http://bit.ly/2Jw6M #. “It’s not like you’re in an octagon where you’re fighting against Tiger and he’s going to bite you, or swing at you with his 9-iron,” Yang said through an interpreter. “The worst that I could do was just lose to Tiger. So [...]

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Roh Moo Hyun RIP

24 May 2009 In the news
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One of the sad things about ex-President Roh’s death is the lack of news coverage it has received in the UK. The sad event was on Saturday morning 23 May, Korea time. Reuters, with the advantage of the date line on their side, managed a 22 May report. To their credit, the BBC has had [...]

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Mayor Boris in Seoul

22 May 2009 In the news
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The most bizarre (at least initially) news item on the BBC a couple of days ago was (a) Bill Clinton praising a building project in (b) London’s dowdy Elephant and Castle area (c) while in Seoul. What was the former president doing in Korea talking about one of London’s least loved tube stations?
We discover that [...]

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Sleepless in Seoul

6 May 2009 In the news
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The French spend more time sleeping than anyone else in OECD countries. They also devote more time to eating than anyone else and nearly double that of Americans, Canadians or Mexicans. The Japanese sleep nearly an hour less every night than the French and also spend longer at work and commuting than they do indulging [...]

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FT hails New Malden parakeets, and other recent London Korean stories

5 February 2009 DPRK
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A round-up of recent London Korea-related stories: SOAS’s Keith Howard featured in the Korean Press, and the FT looks at the Korean community in New Malden

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LKL 2008 Quiz of the year – the answers

1 January 2009 2008 year-end posts
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LKL’s annual quiz about the year’s events in Korea, including plenty of celebrity trivia.

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A week is a long time in … Korean economics

20 October 2008 Business
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By Peter Corbishley
Given the present economic world order, last week was an opportune time for an update on Korean peninsular economics. First Aidan Foster Carter tells BAKS that in August President Lee Myung-bak’s military banned “Bad Samaritans,” by Chang Ha-joon, an economics professor at the University of Cambridge, for being un-Korean. Then on the same [...]

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