Peter Corbishley reports on last week’s dance event at Asia House Thanks to some unusual traffic your reviewer arrived late enough to get a front row seat for this unique performance of seven of eleven traditional Korean dances. ‘Exciting’, ‘beautiful’, ‘unexplored but most interesting’ were some of the words and phrases used to introduce this … [Read More]
Front Page
Five from the archive
Sun, percussion, and yang energy
Jennifer Barclay celebrates her first anniversary with LKL with her report from the second Dano Korean Summer Festival The sound of percussion crept around Trafalgar Square as a strange vehicle circled the fountains and wheeled into view: a tall Mad Max-style contraption with coloured flags waving from poles, people dressed in black and orange hanging … [Read More]
Crossfields: Young Korean artists at the KCC
Claire O’Connell was among the crowds at the opening of Crossfields: the KCC’s latest show. This was the launch of “Crossfields”, a new exhibition at the KCC showcasing the work of 23 young Koreans who are all promising artists, architects, illustrators, photographers and designers. All the artists have studied in London at some point and … [Read More]
Exhibition visit: Jukhee Kwon in Present Moment, at October Gallery
It was nice to see Jukhee Kwon’s work again in London, after too long a break. The most eye-catching work was one of her extended cascades of paper from a single book: Dipping into Darkness (2013) was hung from the top of the wall, its black-tinted lower end trailing on the floor, making the whole … [Read More]
Chuseok at the British Museum
I haven’t had a chance to write anything yet – that will come in the next couple of days – but in the meanwhile I’ve uploaded my snaps onto my flickr page. Let me know of any other photos you wish to share. [Read More]
Recent Posts
November events
The need for difficult decisions continues into November, with music, film, literature and artistic events simultaneously calling for our attention. LKL’s pick of the upcoming month has to be Lee Heemoon at the Purcell Room, closing this year’s K-music Festival. Regretfully, we’re going to have to pass on Geumhyung Jeong’s performance at the ICA (we … [Read More]
London Korean Film Festival Announces 2024 Programme
Here’s the official press release for this year’s London Korean Film Festival, released today. Some good things here! Korean Cultural Centre UK announces London Korean Film Festival 2024 Programme Opening Gala Film: Park Beom-su’s VICTORY Closing Gala Film: E.oni’s LOVE IN THE BIG CITY Special Screening: Choi Dong-hoon’s ALIENOID: RETURN TO THE FUTURE London, 1 … [Read More]
Theatre round-up: four recent Korean stage productions
This year in London we have been fortunate so far to have enjoyed four Korean stage productions: two imports with a run of several weeks each, and two shoestring-budget local productions with a handful of performances. Which would we go to see again? Do the plucky locals win out over the imports? [Read More]
K-Music Festival 2024: an introduction
The programme for the 2024 K-Music Festival is quite possibly the best yet. For LKL, the real gems are the opening and closing events. We hear that the National Changgeuk Company‘s Lear, which opens the festival, is every bit as good as their Trojan Women, which we raved about; and for the closing event pretty … [Read More]
Korean Wave or Korean Tsunami? The Next-Gen Late Night at the Korean Cultural Centre
On Friday 31st May, the Korean Cultural Centre UK hosted its inaugural networking event for young professionals and opinion leaders titled ‘Next Gen Late Night.’ The evening was aimed at bringing people together to discuss not only the explosion of global interest in Korean culture (known as Hallyu) but crucially, as the target audience of … [Read More]
Oh Myung-hee’s tribute to female spirituality and springtime
If you find yourself in the Sloane Square area over the Easter period, do pop in to the Garrison Chapel in the new Chelsea Barracks development. It’s a lovely, airy space used primarily for exhibitions, and currently there’s a group show, launched on International Women’s Day, featuring work by eighteen female artists. One of those … [Read More]
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Recent Event updates
London Korean Film Festival 2024 – detailed schedule
Ranging from new releases to independents to special strands, the London Korean Film Festival is the largest Korean film festival outside of Korea. To complement the BFI’s Echoes in Time season, the festival will present two strands of films that will screen at BFI Southbank, Cine Lumiere and ICA – Women’s Voices, showcasing 15 years … [Read More]
2024 Kimchi Festival
Program: 12:00 – Opening & Greeting 12:30 – 15:30 Talking on Kimchi Showing Kimchi making by master chefs Introducing different Kimchi by master chefs 16:30 – 17:00 Making Kimchi Together, Sharing Fun Together 17:30 – Closing Raffle Event Prize Return Flight Ticket to South Korea Kimchi Products Korean Snacks [External Link]
Meet the authors: Eun Hee-kyung and Lee Geum-yi
Two eminent novelists are making their way to England to meet Korean literature enthusiasts in London and Kingston: Eun Hee-kyung A renowned novelist representing Korea since the 1990s, Eun Hee-kyung is celebrated for her evocative depictions of everyday life and her insightful exploration of life’s subtle truths. Her works vividly portray the nuances of seemingly … [Read More]
BFI Film Season: Echoes in Time — Korean Films of the Golden Age and New Cinema
The BFI Southbank programme for late October and November 2024 begins with Echoes in Time: Korean Films of the Golden Age and New Cinema, a major new season running from 28 October to 31 December. Programmed by Young Jin Eric Choi and Goran Topalovic, Echoes in Time will focus on two groundbreaking periods in the … [Read More]
Seoul Manner, by Bek Hyunjin
Korean legend and innovator, Bek Hyunjin – actor, contemporary artist, installation artist, performance artist, and musician – presents an exhilarating evening of entertaining, meaningful performance that draws you into the enigmatic beauty and drama of Korean lyrics and art. Bek Hyunjin Bek Hyunjin is an omnidirectional artist based in Seoul, South Korea. His music career started in … [Read More]
Two Koryo Saram documentary screenings
In collaboration with Misha Zakharov, a PhD candidate at the University of Warwick and curator at Screening Rights Film Festival, and Goethe-Institut UK, the London Migration Film Festival is hosting a special event on Koryo Saram (or Koryoin), the (post-)Soviet Koreans. In 1937, Koryo Saram were forcibly displaced from the Far East of Soviet Russia to Central … [Read More]
The above events list includes recent updates to events which might have been uploaded some time ago (eg an update confirming venue or ticket link). A chronological listing of all event notices published, most recent first, can be found here. A list of all upcoming events can be found here.
Recent Book updates
The Ilse: First-Generation Korean Immigrants in Hawaii, 1903-1973
From the publisher’s website: On January 13, 1903, the first Korean immigrants arrived in Hawai’i. Numbering a little more than a hundred individuals, this group represented the initial wave of organized Korean immigration to Hawai’i. Over the next two and a half years, nearly 7,500 Koreans would make the long journey eastward across the Pacific. … [Read More]
Laying Claim to the Memory of May: A Look Back at the 1980 Kwangju Uprising
The Kwangju Uprising – “Korea’s Tiananmen” – is one of the most important political events in late twentieth-century Korean history. What began as a peaceful demonstration against the imposition of military rule in the southwestern city of Kwangju in May 1980 turned into a bloody people’s revolt. In the two decades since, memories of the … [Read More]
Education Fever: Society, Politics, and the Pursuit of Schooling in South Korea
From the publisher’s website: In the half century after 1945, South Korea went from an impoverished, largely rural nation ruled by a succession of authoritarian regimes to a prosperous, democratic industrial society. No less impressive was the country’s transformation from a nation where a majority of the population had no formal education to one with … [Read More]
Voices from the Straw Mat: Toward an Ethnography of Korean Story Singing
From the publisher’s website: From its humble “straw mat” origins to its paradoxical status as a national treasure, p’ansori has survived centuries of change and remains the primary source of Korean narrative and poetic consciousness. In this innovative work, Chan Park celebrates her subject not as a static phenomenon but a living, organic tradition adapting … [Read More]
And So Flows History
From the publisher’s website: A deeply compelling saga of love, jealously, honor, and greed, And So Flows History (역사는 흐른다, 1947) depicts the relentless power of exterior forces on the individual lives of three generations of the illustrious Cho family–from the waning years of the Choson dynasty in the late nineteenth century to the tumultuous … [Read More]
Crisis in North Korea: The Failure of De-Stalinization, 1956
From the publisher’s website: North Korea remains the most mysterious of all Communist countries. The acute shortage of available sources has made it a difficult subject of scholarship. Through his access to Soviet archival material made available only a decade ago, contemporary North Korean press accounts, and personal interviews, Andrei Lankov presents for the first … [Read More]
The above booklist includes recent updates to books which might have been uploaded some time ago (eg an update to reflect a release of cover art, or a new review). A chronological listing of all books uploaded, most recent first, can be found here.