London Korean Links

Covering things Korean in London and beyond since 2006

The Reflection at New Days Gallery

News of a three-week exhibition at the New Days Gallery in New Malden: The reflection Artist: Dok Hi Kim Open to public: 16th (Sat) Aug – 6th (Sat) Sep 08 Opening time: 10am-5pm, Tue-Sat (Closed on Sun & Mon) Venue: Newdays Gallery London 2 Alric Ave, New Malden, KT3 4JN Enquiry: 0208 286 1335 / … [Read More]

The Asia House festival of Asian Film

Asia House’s first film festival contains one of the big Korean hits from last year, but also has enough to tempt you to try out films from other countries. 5 films, 5 UK premieres. Everyone’s favourite castaway Kim Yun-jin (above) stars in Seven Days directed by Won Shin-yeon: Jiyeon (Kim Yun-jin) is a hard working, … [Read More]

Exhibition news: Vessels at the KCC

The KCC’s exhibition for August and September is a juxtaposition of work by British and Korean ceramicists. Vessels: Ceramicists from Korea & UK Exhibition at the Korean Cultural Centre UK 12 August – 25 September 2008 Participating Artists (in alphabetical order): Felicity Aylieff | Sena Gu | Jeong Yong Han | Chris Keenan | Sun … [Read More]

The Euro Journal LKL interview

Jeon Sung-min recently interviewed LKL’s blogger-in-chief for an article in the Euro Journal. The interview was conducted in English, and he translated it into Korean for publication in the newspaper. Here’s a slightly polished-up transcript of the interview, published with Jeon Sung-min’s kind permission. Euro Journal: How and when did you get interested in Korea … [Read More]

Farewell, Anna Fifield

As the world’s attention was focused on Beijing yesterday evening for the opening ceremony of the Olympics, in a small hanok in Bukcheon another celebration was taking place. Anna Fifield, the FT’s Seoul bureau chief, was having a farewell party to mark the end of her four years in the Land of Morning Calm. I’m … [Read More]

Tale of Two Sisters screens at the KCC

This week’s screening at the KCC is Kim Ji-woon’s (김지운) stylish suspense / horror flick Tale of Two Sisters (2003). (7 August, 7pm) Kim’s filmography is varied and of a high quality. He started with comedy – the macabre Quiet Family (1998) and the hugely fun Foul King (2000), and now seems to be in … [Read More]

Advance fee frauds – the Korean connection

We have all received garbage emails from dodgy people in dodgy countries giving us a sob story explaining how they’ve managed to end up with several million dollars and need help getting it out of the country. They started in Nigeria but have now spread to other countries as well. Two recent ones have come … [Read More]

Rollercoaster #5: Triangle

T-Entertainment, March 2006 Rollercoaster’s fifth album was released in 2006, after a gap of 2 years since the almost flawless fourth. Gone is the sense of rhythmic drive, of energy, of joie de vivre. Instead we have something a bit more laid back, less characterful. I had been warned that the fifth album was a … [Read More]

North Koreans in Britain

Every now and then a visitor to this site asks whether there are any North Koreans in the UK, apart from at the DPRK embassy. Journalist Michael Rank keeps his eyes open for evidence, particularly on the parliamentary website, and shares his findings with the BAKS list – little snippets of information such as the … [Read More]

Alex: My Vintage Romance

Fluxus Music, June 2008 As a fan of Clazziquai, I wish I could be more enthusiastic about the first solo outing of one of its members, the male vocalist Alex. On the plus side, he has a mellow, well-controlled voice, very pleasant to listen to. And he has a reasonably distinguished line-up of guest stars. … [Read More]

August events 2008

As usual, I’ll update this post as I hear more. Exhibitions Cantilever Left continues at I-MYU until 9 August. There will be a different exhibition starting soon after. Psycho Buildings continues at the Hayward Gallery until 25 August. The U_Design City_Seoul exhibition continues at the KCC until 2 August, then is replaced by Vessels, an … [Read More]