After my first viewing, I was wondering whether to recommend Minari to my friends and family. If I’d bought an expensive cinema ticket to see it then I would have only seen it once. However, I bought a ticket that licensed me to view it as many times as I wanted within a 24 hour […]
March events 2021
Our Korean cultural fixes are sadly still exclusively online. One year into the lockdown, maybe I’m beginning to suffer from Zoom fatigue: the coming month feels the most barren for a while. Current highlight is the tail end of the Glasgow Film Festival, at which Korea is the focus country. But I’ll be aiming to […]
Bae Myung-hoon’s Tower could be the most fun thing you read this year
Bae Myung-hoon’s Tower is the first of several science fiction books to reach us this year, and if the rest are as good as this we’re in for an enjoyable time. It’s his first full-length work to be translated into English, and also translator Sung Ryu’s first book. She has two further titles coming out […]
The Drawing Hand: In Conversation With Illustrator Jieun Kim
The Christmas that just passed has been undoubtedly a quite different one. Many of us didn’t have a chance to spend the day with their loved ones and the joyful atmosphere that characterises one of the most loved and anticipated time of the year was dimmed by the still ongoing health emergency due to COVID-19. […]
February events 2021
As we approach the first anniversary of the UK lockdown, cultural organisations and academic institutions are getting into their stride with providing content online. While we still suffer from the lack of face-to-face communication and the ability to see works of art in the flesh, there seems to be an increasing range of other content […]
Building bridges between North and South in New Malden
We do not need reminding that the Korean peninsula is divided. But the implications of that division for Koreans in Britain are not so obvious. I remember at a British Korean Society event ten years ago at which the North and South Korean Ambassadors were speaking, as audience and speakers mingled over drinks afterwards, one […]
Eighteen non-fiction titles we’re hoping to enjoy this year [updated]
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Here are some of the books we’re looking forward to in 2021. For the first time in one of these posts we’re flagging the indicative cost of the titles listed here. For me, I have a psychological barrier at around £30: a book has to be offering something pretty special for me to be prepared […]
Book review: Yi In-hwa’s Everlasting Empire
Some time ago I watched Park Chong-wan’s 1995 historical mystery movie Eternal Empire on DVD, having purchased it on the strength of its inclusion in Darcy Paquet’s list of top films from the 1990s. I must have been tired when I watched it: I simply have no recollection of what I thought of it, though […]
Literature and poetry in translation titles for 2021: more than a dozen to look forward to!
This is now LKL’s fifth annual post that looks at the literature and fiction titles we’re looking forward to over the coming twelve months. Since last year we’ve made things easier for ourselves by investing some time building a book database that aims to catalogue all physical publications of Korean literature in translation, as well […]
Moon Jae-in’s 2021 New Year speech
Set out below is the unofficial translation of President Moon’s 2021 New Year’s Address, sourced from the Cheongwadae website: People-driven aspirations: Recovery, Inclusiveness and Resurgence Fellow Koreans, The Year of the White Ox is upon us. Painfully aware of the current situation, I wish everyone hope. I can fully understand why people are saying that […]
Interview with Bora Chung in Korea Times
There’s a nice interview with writer Bora Chung in yesterday’s Korea Times. Coming later this year from Honford Star is her short story collection Cursed Bunny, translated by Anton Hur. According to the article, Many of her recent works can be defined as a gripping amalgamation of absurdist, unrealistic stories that draw on science fiction, […]
January events 2021
It’s often the case that January is a little dry on the cultural front, and this year that’s particularly true. We have look to the Korea Society in New York and Royal Asiatic Society, Korea Branch, in Seoul for online offerings that will supplement our diet. Think of it as an opportunity to make inroads […]
Kim Jong Un’s 2021 New Year letter
Kim Jong Un’s 2021 New Year message is simple and brief, taking the form of a hand-written letter to his people. Below is the official release sourced from the DPRK Ministry of Foreign Affairs website. The Rodong Sinmun has also posted on its website a facsimile of the letter, and an image of Kim Jong […]
A review of the Korean cultural year 2020
It would be an understatement to say that the cultural year 2020 has been markedly different from previous years. The pandemic has had a huge impact on the cultural scene, with most live events cancelled and event promoters falling back on the internet to provide us with our cultural fixes. Some of these attempts have […]
A look back at our 2020 reading diary
Like many readers, we started the year with good intention of blitzing through the pile of new titles that were promised for the coming months, as well as making inroads into the backlog. And we genuinely got off to a good start with a string of fun K-thrillers, some of them new, some not: The […]
Season’s greetings to all our readers
Best wishes for Christmas and the New Year to all of LKL’s readers, friends and contributors. Have a peaceful break with as many of your nearest and dearest as you are permitted to see, and whatever you do stay safe. When I wrote a similar post this time last year I expressed the wish that […]
Layers of paint, paintings of feelings: the abstract works of Sunyoung Hwang
Brush stroke after brush stroke, an artist can create a wonderland for the heart to explore feelings, emotions and, perhaps, also memories. The depth of life, the human emotional world and the experiences we go through can’t often be easily conveyed to others or even explained to oneself. Some argue that art is healing to […]