BFI Flare launched yesterday with a humdinger of an opening movie: Andrew Ahn’s reimagining of Ang Lee’s 1993 The Wedding Banquet. Ahn’s partner in creating this update, James Schamus, also co-wrote Ang Lee’s version. While the original film features a single gay couple and a marriage of convenience, the reboot has two gay couples, which … [Read More]
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March events 2025
Today is LKL’s 19th birthday – we launched on 1 March 2006. I’m hoping to celebrate by getting myself a ticket for one or two of the Korean movies at BFI Flare. Somehow. But there’s plenty else to keep me occupied if I’m not successful – like Sun-Mi Hong at the Vortex. Screenings BFI Flare … [Read More]
Festival of Korean Dance 2025 – programme details announced
Here’s the official press release for the 2025 Festival of Korean dance. This year, in addition to performances at The Place in London, the festival tours to Bournemouth, Salford and Newcastle. A Festival of Korean Dance returns for its eighth year with 17-strong ensemble headliner and a live rock band Presented by the Korean Cultural … [Read More]
Snowy Day – a new collection of Lee Chang-dong short stories
I’ve been following Korean literature in translation now for around 25 years. Back in the day, I’d buy everything I could lay my hands on – after all, there wasn’t much of it around, so there wasn’t much financial commitment involved. At the time, most of the literature available was originally written more than thirty … [Read More]
Season’s Greetings to all our readers
Best wishes for Christmas and the New Year to all of LKL’s readers, friends and contributors. At a time when nowhere in the world seems immune from division, disruption or worse, we remember that it is our personal connections and friendships that bring healing and sustenance. Have a restful holiday season with your loved ones, … [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]
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Recent Event updates
2025 Korea Day in Manchester
The KCCUK is pleased to announce our first ‘Korea Day’ in Manchester. The event will feature various performances, foods, and hands-on activities, to introduce Korean culture and enhance the understanding of Korea. Expect tasty Korean food stalls; booths where you can get your fortune told, Korean-style; a hanbok experience; Korean calligraphy; traditional music from the … [Read More]
Jaha Koo’s Haribo Kimchi at the Purcell Room
Floating aromas of a steamy simmering soup, the sharp sound of a knife quickly slicing spring onions, the hissing and sizzling of mushrooms on a scorching fire. In Haribo Kimchi, we find ourselves in a pojangmacha, a typical late-night snack bar that can be found scattered across the streets of South Korea. There we meet several … [Read More]
Korean films at BFI Flare 2025
This year at BFI Flare we have three films by Korean directors and one by a Korean American. The latter – The Wedding Banquet by director Andrew Ahn – has been chosen to open the festival and includes Oscar-winner Youn Yuh-jung among the cast. Londoners were introduced to Andrew Ahn’s work at Queer East last … [Read More]
SOAS seminar: Recording memories of human rights violations in North Korea
The human rights situation in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea or DPRK) is exceptionally challenging to address externally, as the population remains isolated from the international community and lacks an independent civil society to advocate for people’s rights. Despite these difficulties, the situation has been captured and documented primarily through the ‘voices’ … [Read More]
Sun-mi Hong new album: UK tour
Sun-Mi Hong, the South-Korean-born and Amsterdam-based musician, stands as one of the most inventive drummers and composers of her generation, continuously pushing the boundaries of jazz and its intersections with diverse musical traditions. Her new album, entitled Fourth Page: Meaning of a Nest, is the second release on Edition Records following Third Page: Resonance with … [Read More]
Say Sue Me Spring tour
Say Sue Me return to the UK for the first time since 2019, with a slew of dates and a new EP in tow. Surf-inspired indie rock band from Busan, South Korea. Members consist of Byungkyu Kim on lead guitar, Sumi Choi on vocals and guitar, Jaeyoung Kim on Bass and Sungwan Lim on Drums. In … [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
A Fractured Liberation: Korea under US Occupation [forthcoming]
A poignant return to Korea’s forgotten “Asian Spring” — a moment ripe with possibility denied by the postwar US military occupation. When Japanese imperial rule ended in August 1945, the Korean peninsula erupted with hopes that had been bottled up for forty years. New mother Chŏn Sukhŭi marveled at the news, envisioning her son growing … [Read More]
Virtue That Matters: Chastity Culture and Social Power in Chosŏn Korea (1392–1910)
Virtue That Matters is a groundbreaking exploration of the intricate dynamics of chastity culture in Chosŏn Korea from 1392 to 1910, shedding light on its political, legal, social, and cultural significance. In this book, Jungwon Kim demonstrates how an emphasis on female chastity came to pervade society as it intertwined with state ideology and elite … [Read More]
Rina
Rina is a defector from a country that might be North Korea, traversing an “empty and futile” landscape. Along the way, she is forced to work at a chemical plant, murders a few people, becomes a prostitute, runs a lucrative bar, and finds a solace in a motley family of wanderers all as disenfranchised as … [Read More]
The Midnight Shift [forthcoming]
A bestseller in Korea, a biting, fast-paced vampire murder mystery exploring queer love and the consequences of loneliness. When four isolated elderly people die back-to-back at the same hospital by jumping out of the sixth-floor window, Su-Yeon doesn’t understand why she’s the only one at her precinct that seems to care. But her colleagues at … [Read More]
Snowy Day and Other Stories
The first story collection published in English by Lee Chang-dong, one of South Korea’s most celebrated and influential literary and cinematic figures. Much like Lee Chang-dong’s internationally renowned films (Burning, Secret Sunshine, and Poetry), these brilliant, unsettling tales, originally published in Korea in the 1980s and now translated into English for the first time, investigate … [Read More]
The House of Twilight
A powerful and provocative young writer often at odds with South Korea’s literary establishment, Yun Heung-gil combines Dickensian humour and sympathy for the ne’er-do-wells and losers of South Korea’s get-ahead society. The House of Twilight, his first-ever collection in English, includes portraits of contemporary life and two striking evocations of the Korean War: the title … [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.