Tom Coyner and Jang Song-hyon have just brought out Mastering Business in Korea – A Practical Guide. The ad in Seoul Magazine reads as follows: In an engaging and easy-to-read format, two experienced business consultants explain the ins and outs of contemporary Korean business culture, etiquette, work rules, and marketing to the Korean consumer. Pick … [Read More]
Year: 2007 (page 22)
February statistics
As I suspected, I was peaking too soon in January. Three consecutive days of 1,000+ visits earlier in the month have now tailed off to a more sustainable 800-900 per day. What drives the visits I don’t know, but I suspect that there may be an element of rubber-necking at internet roadkill: another three consecutive … [Read More]
Have dinner with not one but two ambassadors
A rare opportunity for people interested in things Korean: have dinner with not one but two ambassadors. H.E. Warwick Morris, British ambassador to Seoul, will be addressing the Anglo-Korean Society and friends on 22 March, giving his perspectives on UK – ROK relations and trade links. With him will be H.E. Dr Cho Yoon-je, the … [Read More]
Choi In-hun: Reflections on a mask
Two Novellas, Reflections on a Mask and Christmas Carol, by Choi In-hun (최인훈) tr Stephen Moore & Shi Chung Park Moore Homa & Sekey Books, Dumont, New Jersey 2002. Overall: . The novellas are discussed individually below. (1) Reflections on a Mask, first published 1960 By no means an easy book. The subject is a … [Read More]
Welcome to new readers
Browsing my blog statistics this morning I noticed an unusual pattern. Yesterday, 70 people visited this site and systematically read through all the monthly archives. Some of you particularly liked the archive for July 2006. In fact, in the last couple of days more people have looked at my July 2006 archive than have come … [Read More]
Loanwords in twentieth century Korean literature
The chosen specialist subject of Antonetta Bruno, from La Sapienza in Rome, is Korean shamanism. But she has an interesting sideline in linguistics. Her theme at SOAS’s Centre for Korean Studies last Friday evening (23 Feb) was the extent to which Korean has borrowed words from foreign languages, particularly in the first half of the … [Read More]
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]
Korean Music – Old and New: lecture-performance at Asia House
Keith Howard, author of the LKL Book of the Year 2006, will be signing copies of his book at Asia House on 6 March. He will be joined by Rowan Pease, who was controversially dethroned as LKL Woman of the Year 2006 by the Korea Times, having beaten Lee Hyori to the prestigious award fair … [Read More]
Restoring Seoul’s faded past
Visit OhMyNews for an interesting article from Robert Neff. Great pictures too. Here’s a list of all of Neff’s articles. Well worth a browse for those interested in Korea’s early modern history. [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]