Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite (기생충) is the first Korean film to take the Palme d’Or – the top prize – at the Cannes Film Festival. The awards were announced last night, 25 May. Announcing the 2019 CST Artist-Technician Prize, the Jury also noted Lee Ha-jun’s outstanding work as Artistic Director on the movie. According to Arirang […]
The Duke of York’s visit to Korea
HRH Prince Andrew paid a visit to Korea last week, and as part of his visit retraced the footsteps of his mother’s state visit twenty years ago. He arrived on 12 May and his first engagement was a reception hosted by the ambassador HE Simon Smith: 🇬🇧🇰🇷The Duke of York is welcomed to South Korea […]
Francis Daehoon Lee meets Jeremy Corbyn
On Monday, before his London talk on Denuclearising The Korean Peninsula, Prof Francis Daehoon Lee of People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy was invited to lunch with Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn, in a restaurant in his Islington constituency. He said he was impressed by Corbyn’s understanding of the situation in the Korean peninsular. Prof. Lee is […]
Festival Film Review: Dark Figure of Crime
In a standard police procedural about a serial killer, a detective – maybe a bit of a loner, often with a drink problem – goes from crime scene to crime scene, from victim to victim, trying to fit together the pieces of the jigsaw that will eventually lead to the murderer, before the next crime […]
Brief review: Samuel Hawley — The Imjin War
Samuel Hawley: The Imjin War – Japan’s Sixteenth-Century Invasion of Korea and Attempt to Conquer China 2nd Edition, Conquistador Press 2014 Originally published by Royal Asiatic Society Korea Branch, Seoul, 2005 How is it that a 664 page book only merits a brief review? Well, because as an historical book a proper review should only […]
Book review: Kim Young-ha – Diary of a Murderer
Kim Young-ha: Diary of a Murderer and other stories Translated by Krys Lee Mariner Books, 2019, 200pp Originally published as 살인자의 기억법, Munhakdongne, 2013 Somewhat rashly, I approach Kim Young-ha’s novels with a keen sense of anticipation, particularly when translated by Krys Lee. Rashly, because with high expectations you usually set yourself up for a […]
2018 travel diary 4 – Gayasa and the tomb of Namyeon-gun
Yesan-gun, Chungcheongnam-do, 11 November 2018. In the first half of the 19th century, although the Yi family was on the throne, much of the power in the land was actually wielded by the Andong Kim family who had intermarried with the royal family. One member of the royal family, Yi Ha-eung, resorted to rather unusual […]
May events 2019
A very busy month for music, among other things. Exhibitions: Kimsooja’s To Breathe is installed at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park; Haegue Yang’s Tracing Movement is at South London Gallery until 26 May; Jukhee Kwon’s work is in October Gallery’s 40th birthday show until 25 May; Lee Jaehyo and Kim Bumsu are at Pontone Gallery until […]
An introduction to SOKOLLAB – Soho’s K-beauty and K-pop store
Ever wanted to try that BB cream shade, test that exfoliator out, and listen to K-Pop artists at the same time? Now you can, in Soho – the heart of London’s West End. SOKOLLAB’s Victoria Martin introduces her tempting store: SOKOLLAB is the first UK store to specialise in Korean beauty and Kpop. The […]
Exhibition visit: Minhwa – The Beauty of Korean Folk Paintings
This has got to be one of the KCC’s most pleasurable exhibitions ever: a collection of twenty folk paintings in different genres by artists from the Korean Minhwa Centre of Daegu’s Keimyung University. It’s also one of the most informative exhibitions I’ve seen in a while, as the information on the walls and in the […]
BTS tops the UK album charts
BTS is the first Korean band to top the UK album charts, according to the Official Charts Company. Their new EP, Map of The Soul: Persona, released on 12 April, came straight in at number 1, while its lead single Boy With Luv (ft Halsey) narrowly missed a top 10 entry, coming in at number […]
2018 travel diary 3 – The Smile of Baekje
10 – 11 November 2018. My trips to Korea are usually preceded by a hurried piece of research on the Cultural Heritage Administration (CHA) website trying to find out what notable items of tangible or intangible heritage, or what other historic or scenic sites there might be, to attract an inquisitive traveller to the places […]
Why I’m beginning to warm to Netflix
After a rocky start with Netflix, I’m now coming round to it. I started subscribing to the online service in order to watch Okja, the Netflix-only feature film by director Bong Joon-ho. Although that particular experience was a big disappointment, I continued the subscription in case I was tempted by any of the other movies […]
A Festival of Korean Dance 2019
Here is the official press release for the 2019 Festival of Korean Dance, a collaboration between the Korea Arts Managements Service, the Korean Cultural Centre UK and The Place. Three performances: 31 May: Modern Table Dance Company – Sok-do (Velocity) 4 June: Double Bill – Art Project BORA 7 June: Triple Bill: Choi X Kang […]
Book review: Hwang Sok-yong – At Dusk
Hwang Sok-yong: At Dusk Translated by Sora Kim-Russell Scribe, 2018, 188pp Originally published as 해질 무렵, Munhakdongne, 2015 What a relief it is when a novel is both thought-provoking and a pleasure to read. Hwang Sok-yong’s At Dusk made me look forward to my daily commute (pretty much the only time I get to read). […]
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 […]
LKL chats with Tiffany Kwok, organiser of the Easter K-pop party at Scala
LKL doesn’t generally post articles about the plethora of all-night K-pop parties that seem to be a regular feature of the London calendar nowadays – and increasingly in other cities too. Why? Well, it’s partly because there are so many of them (we have limited writing hours in the evening and limited storage space at […]