London Korean Links

Covering things Korean in London and beyond since 2006

March events 2007

Music, dance and stage Keith Howard and Rowan Pease present Korean music old and new at Asia House on 6 March. Keith will be autographing copies of his recent books. Many of us will be heaving a sigh of relief at the discriminatory age-cap applied to the Korean breakdance masterclass at the Roundhouse on March … [Read More]

cRu$ty scores a hat-trick

I almost feel honoured that cRu$ty the playful Algerian hacker has paid me three visits. The second visit was seemingly a personal one – he (or she) actually left a comment on one of the posts. But I know I shouldn’t take it all too personally: according to the site that he (or she) directed … [Read More]

Park’s gong

So what exactly is the Alfred Bauer prize? We know that Park Chan-wook was awarded it at the recent Berlin Film Festival for I’m a Cyborg, because there’s this picture on the BBC website to prove it. Yet you read the various blogs and news websites and you get the impression that the prize is … [Read More]

Francesca Cho at East @ West Wing festival

Francesca Cho‘s work will be on display at the East @ West Wing British East Asian Arts Festival in Slough from 3 March to 6 April. Cho has been established in London for more than ten years and her work has been widely shown internationally, including Seoul, Berlin, Rio de Janeiro, New York, Madrid and, … [Read More]

Cosmetic surgery to get tax breaks

As if there wasn’t enough plastic surgery in Korea already, the Government has just made it tax deductible. According to the Chosun Ilbo: The costs of plastic surgery, cosmetic tooth reshaping, corrective laser eye surgery, and “boyak”, or traditional Korean health supplements, will be eligible for income deductions in the year-end tax adjustment from this … [Read More]

Feminism and women artists in Korean art

Lecture 5 in Jiyoon Lee’s Art & Society in Modern Korea course. Big caveat: a very simplistic and immature summary, prepared by someone with limited knowledge or understanding of these things, of a very brief lecture covering a huge topic. Treat with extreme caution. Posted here as a “stub” (in Wiki terms) which I might … [Read More]

Call for Papers: ISKS conference, SOAS, Aug 2007

제8차 코리아학국제학술토론회 The 8th ISKS International Conference of Korean Studies 일시(Dates) : 2007년 8월 16일(목)-17일(금) August 16 (Thurs) ~ 17 (Fri), 2007 장소(Venue) : 영국 런던대학교 쏘아즈(아시아아프리카학원) School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, UK 언어(Language) : 한국/조선어, 영어 (Korean, English) 주최(Co-organized) : 국제고려학회, 런던대학 SOAS 한국학센타, 국제고려학회 유럽지부 International Society for Korean … [Read More]

A brief visit to the ULKS Korean night

As I wandered unchecked into the Conway Hall last night I had to negotiate several girls wearing hanbok and a chap who was steering a large stepladder into the auditorium. Inside the hall, trestle tables were arranged lengthwise, from the front to the back of the hall, lined with seated students chatting and eating as … [Read More]

Bugger Seoul, I’m off to Paris

Another recent article in the JoongAng Daily reports on the Korean long-hours culture. I experienced this first-hand during my recent trip to Seoul. I thought I’d call in at the office, and maybe encourage my colleagues out for a beer or two. I was due to turn up at around 6pm, but because I spent … [Read More]

Trot makes a comeback

To be perfectly accurate, I don’t think Trot ever really went away. Rather, like many trends in popular culture, its fanbase was getting older and there would come a point when no-one was listening to it any more. But when Trot compilations are selling millions through street vendors (see chapter 7 of Keith Howard’s book), … [Read More]

Oh Soojung Blogathon

To coincide with another retrospective of the complete oeuvre of Hong Sang-soo, Hell on Frisco Bay has announced a Blog-a-thon on the subject of A Virgin Stripped Bare by her Bachelors on March 21 this year. I gather that what this means is that anyone who runs a blog and who is interested can write … [Read More]