London Korean Links

Covering things Korean in London and beyond since 2006

Darcy’s predictions for 2007

It’s getting to be the case that the more interesting stuff over on Darcy’s site is in his What’s New page rather than his forums. Here are his predictions for 2007: Park Jin-pyo’s VOICE OF A MURDERER is going to be a major critical and popular hit (at least 6 million tickets) There will be … [Read More]

Think Korea 2006 – your feedback requested

Alice Bennell, Peter Corbishley and I went round to the Embassy yesterday to give some feedback to the organisers of Think Korea 2006. We discussed many of the issues set out in my post of 30 December. We briefly talked about the embassy’s recently re-launched website. I visited it today and found that they are … [Read More]

ARCO 2007, part 3: the official press release on the contemporary art strand

Some background on Korea’s participation as guest of honour at ARCO 2007, direct from the ARCO press office. SOUTH KOREA AT ARCO’07: A SPECIAL LOOK AT ASIAN ART For the first time ever, the Madrid International Contemporary Art Fair, ARCO, will welcome a special guest from one of the most artistically effervescent and emerging international … [Read More]

ARCO 2007, part 2: details of galleries in the contemporary art strand

The earlier post included all the special Korean events around the ARCO 2007 contemporary art fair. For you art gurus out there, here’s some details of the Korean artists and galleries showing there, direct from the ARCO press office (with email addresses slightly sanitised) —————————- KOREAN GALLERIES IN THE PROGRAM DEDICATED TO THE COUNTRY IN … [Read More]

A date with Rain? I’d rather have my hair done

“Sorry, I’m washing my hair that night” is the familiar put-down you get when the girl of your dreams doesn’t fancy a date with you. But it’s also true of LKL visitors. They’re much more interested in finding the best Korean hairdressers in London, or reading about the techniques involved in a “Magic Straight” perm, … [Read More]

DPRK Joint New Year Editorial 2007

Just received from the DPRK embassy Pyongyang, January 1 (KCNA) — Rodong Sinmun, Joson Inmingun and Chongnyon Jonwi today released a joint editorial under the title “Usher in a Great Heyday of Songun Korea Full of Confidence in Victory” on the occasion of the hope-filled New Year. The DPRK has never seen in the annals … [Read More]

Welcome to readers from the Korea Times

I should have realised something strange was going on when I noticed an uptick in the number of constructive comments being left on this site in the last day or so. Then yesterday came my first comment in Korean1. I thus learned that I had been mentioned in the Korea Times. I assumed it was … [Read More]

January events 2007

The Through the Looking Glass exhibition at Asia House continues. Lee Jiyoon’s series of Wednesday morning lectures (Art & Society in Modern Korea) commences on 10 January, and there are two related evening events: Choi Jeong-hwa on 22 January and Chong Doryun on 29 January. All at Asia House. Paul French, author of the wide-ranging … [Read More]

Carter Ekert and others: Korea Old and New

Carter J Eckert / Ki-baik Lee / Young Ick Lew / Michael Robinson / Edward W Wagner (Ilchokak Publishers, for Korea Institute, Harvard University, 1990) An ambitious book which aims in the space of 400 pages to encapsulate Korea’s history from Palaeolithic times up until 1990. In a book of this nature it is inevitable … [Read More]

Chung Hyung-min: Modern Korean Ink Painting

(Hollym, 2006) A well-illustrated and easy-to-read book which traces the development of ink painting in the 20th century from its roots in the Chosun dynasty: the famous “court” painter O-won (Jang Seung-eop, 장승업, immortalised in Im Kwon-taek’s Chihwaseon), and the literati style perfected in Kim Jeong-hi (김정희). Chung emphasises the importance of the short-lived (1911-19) … [Read More]

Wish-list for 2007

Not quite a list of New Year’s resolutions. It’s part to-do list, part wish-list for 2007. The new Korean Cultural Centre 2007 will see the launch of the new Korean Cultural Centre. I don’t know their detailed plans (yet), but here’s some of the things I’d like them to be thinking about: Giving lots of … [Read More]