A few new events, and an amendment. Academia / talks: The Korean studies workshop originally scheduled for 25/26 May at SOAS will now be taking place on 26 June instead. Details still being finalised. A new workshop on Korean linguistics is scheduled for 1/2 June at SOAS A call for papers for a Korean studies … [Read More]
Month: May 2007 (page 2)
S. Korea’s birth rate inches up
Whether it’s the auspicious influence of the year of the Golden Pig, the outcome of Bada’s awareness-raising concert, the result of Shin Dong-jin’s efforts as head of the birth-boosting campaign, or a combination of all the above, Yonhap announces an increase in the birthrate in 2006. KBS gets all technical about the potential astrological reasons: … [Read More]
More Korean success on classical music stage
The triennial Gustav Mahler International Conducting Competition was held in April in Bamberg, Germany. 2004’s winner, Gustavo Dudamel, was recently appointed misc director of the LA Philharmonic, marking out the competition as an event which identifies the future stars. The 2007 competition featured 12 competitors from Germany, Egypt, Russia, USA, Britain. And Busan-born Sung Shi-yeon … [Read More]
Saemangeum update
Birds Korea and the Australasian Wader Studies Group have just completed part of their monitoring programme of migrating birds at Saemangeum. A key conclusion: many Great Knot have been displaced by the Saemangeum reclamation, and have subsequently failed to stage through the remainder of the spring at either Gomso Bay or the Geum Estuary — … [Read More]
What makes Juche bigger than Judaism?
In a rather strange survey, adherents.com have produced a ranking of major “world” “religions”. Let’s take a look at the list. 1. Christianity: 2.1 billion 2. Islam: 1.3 billion OK so far. Let’s carry on. 3. Secular / Nonreligious / Agnostic / Atheist: 1.1 billion Sorry? “Secular / Nonreligious / Agnostic / Atheist” is a … [Read More]
Get plastered and win a holiday in Cheju-do
Not any more, though. Reports of a rather fun “drinking culture” competition hit the presses this week. The story even made it into the free newspaper handed out in the London Underground. Battered by criticism from the media and civic groups, Goesan’s county government decided to stop awarding its “Drinking Culture Prize” to its county … [Read More]
Kim Hunggyu: Understanding Korean Literature
ME Sharpe, 1997 Written in 1986 and expertly translated by Robert Fouser ten years later, this is a highly readable basic introduction to the wide variety of Korean literary forms. The scope of the work includes oral literature, literature written in Korean but using Chinese characters, and, perhaps controversially, literature written in classical Chinese, as … [Read More]
Koryo Saram – the Unreliable People
Report of a documentary film screening at SOAS on 2 May, by Michael Rank Koryo Saram – The Unreliable People is a fascinating one-hour documentary about the 200,000 ethnic Koreans who were deported to Kazakhstan by Stalin in 1937. It includes archive footage never seen before outside the former Soviet Union as well as interviews … [Read More]
A meeting with Tearliner
By Anna Lindgren There’s a consensus among Korean indie music lovers that Pastel Music offers high quality music. One of the main reasons why this consensus arose is Tearliner. Thanks to orienkorean and his cousin I was able to make contact with Liner, who kindly agreed to answer my numerous questions on Tearliner and his … [Read More]
April Statistics
Search terms The natural order of things was restored in April, with Lee Sabi back as easily the most popular search term. BoA’s Nike contract is slipping down the rankings. Rain and Baek Ji-young are number two and three. In March the wildcard search term was the Monochrome Movement. This month it seems that a … [Read More]
Lee Chang-dong’s Secret Sunshine gets early thumbs-up
Probably the most eagerly awaited Korean film of 2007, at least by me, is Lee Chang-dong’s fourth: Secret Sunshine, or Milyang (밀양). I’ve admired his first three for the issues they tackle and the superb acting: Lee has had access to some top stars for his films – Sol Kyung-gu and Moon So-ri for Oasis … [Read More]
Book review: James Church — A Corpse in the Koryo
James Church: A Corpse in the Koryo Thomas Dunne Books, 2006 Inspector O is a maverick. No respecter of authority, he answers back to his boss, he drives the departmental car without permission, and even, horror of horrors, refuses to wear his Kim Il-sung badge. Not another cliché cop, you might groan. Well, he doesn’t … [Read More]
Charlie Crane: Welcome to Pyongyang
Chris Boot, 2007 The new photo book on Pyongyang can be appreciated on a number of levels. Firstly, there’s the literal level: it’s a collection of well-taken photos, with captions provided by the North Korean Tourist Board. But like it or not, whenever you see anything in which the North Koreans have had a hand, … [Read More]
Oh Jung-hee: The Bird
Telegram Books, 2007 Originally published as 새, 2003 Translated by Jenny Wang Medina Another of those enigmatic, slightly depressing modern Korean novels which causes you to have sympathy with the large number of Koreans who are turning to Japanese novels for their entertainment. Set during the mid 90s economic slump, the story chronicles the lives … [Read More]
Park Hyun Bin #1: Gondre Mandre
Possibly my most disappointing speculative purchase ever, this is the second stop in my journey through the younger generation of artists who appear to be involved with the Trot revival. As with my first encounter, I can’t make the connection between what I’m hearing and what I’m told Trot is all about. At least with … [Read More]
May events 2007
May is a quiet month for Korean events, so far as I am aware. The London Korean Film Festival 2007 and associated cultural events, which following the precedent of previous years would be towards the end of May, will actually be happening in June this year according to my latest intelligence. The provisional date is … [Read More]