Now in its eighth year, here are the LKL Awards 2013. The year has been both good and bad from LKL’s perspective. Good because there seem to have been more events, more books, more films and more music than ever before as Korean culture gets more and more public attention. And bad because our day … [Read More]
Year: 2013
Korean indie musician invited to Glastonbury
Is this a first for a Korean musician? Singer-songwriter Choi Go-eun (최고은, also known as Gonne Choi) will be performing at Glastonbury in 2014, according to the Chosun Ilbo. Here’s hoping she stops off in London on the way. Here she is singing Eric’s Song: You can find some of her tracks on iTunes under … [Read More]
Director Won’s next move
Congratulations to Won Yong-ki on being appointed head of the Korea Culture and Information Service (KOCIS), part of the Ministry of Culture, Sports & Tourism. Director Won used to head the KCCUK. In the photo from the Korea Times he is posing in front of two of the kkokdu which were on display last summer … [Read More]
Jungho Oak’s extreme yoga and Sun Salutations
One of LKL’s favourite exhibitions of 2013 was Oak Jungho’s solo show at 43 Inverness Street. And that wasn’t just because at the opening viewing, if you sneaked into the kitchen and asked nicely, you were given a glass of single malt instead of the more usual wine or beer. Whisky, at a private view? … [Read More]
Shin Meekyoung’s 2013
We haven’t done proper write-ups of all Shin Meekyoung’s exhibitions this year – she’s simply been too busy, like us. To make up for this omission, here is a round-up of photographs of some of her installations. All photos are by LKL except where stated – we got to see her work in Seoul, Venice … [Read More]
Travelling the length of Korea by motorbike
For those who haven’t come across this yet: a project by some bold Kiwis to travel the length of the Korean peninsula, from Baekdusan to Hallsan, by motorbike. The journey took place this summer. Here’s a quick (12 minute) podcast they produced just after they crossed the DMZ into South Korea. and a video documentary … [Read More]
Exhibition visit — Jukhee Kwon: “I destroy books” (abandoned ones)
When you next take a book to a charity shop, there’s a chance that it might end up as a work of art. Jukhee Kwon takes her inspiration from books that have been abandoned by their owner. When she sees an abandoned book, with its closed cover, she wants to open it, to free its … [Read More]
All I want for Christmas …
This MBC video is at least two years old, but like a Richard Curtis film it bears watching again. [Edit: the original MBC video is no longer online, but the above more recently uploaded item seems to be the same thing] [Read More]
Season’s greetings to all our readers
Seasonal best wishes to LKL followers and fellow bloggers. 2013 has been an action-packed year for Korean culture in London. Here’s to 2014. [Read More]
Book Review: The Defections, by Hannah Michell. Put it on your wishlist
Hannah Michell: The Defections Quercus, 2014, 336pp THE BRITISH EMBASSY, SEOUL STAFF RECORD NAME: Kim, Mia D.O.B: 27/10/1979 POSITION: Translator REPORTS TO: Dalton-Ellis, Thomas NATIONALITY: Korean ETHNICITY: Mixed – Korean/British BACKGROUND NOTES: Born, was educated and lives in Seoul. Family – father, disabled – stepmother, seamstress – mother, English, unknown – uncle, runs school for … [Read More]
Radio 4 to feature Ko Un
News of an upcoming feature on Radio 4: Ko Un: The People’s Poet of Korea Sunday 29 December, 4:30pm, Radio 4 In South Korea, former Zen monk Ko Un is revered as a pro-democracy activist and the people’s poet. To mark his 80th birthday, Mike Greenwood explores his prolific output, in particular his epic masterwork, … [Read More]
Jang Eun-jin: No One Writes Back. Just read it. You won’t regret it.
Jang Eun-jin: No One Writes Back First published in Korea as 아무도 편지하지 않다 by Munhak Tongne, Paju, 2009 This edition Dalkey Archive 2013 Translated by Jung Yewon I can’t remember having cried at the end of a novel before, particularly one in which nothing much happens. No One Writes Back is a beautiful gem … [Read More]
Festival Film Review: Behind the Camera — the Q&A of the feature of the documentary of the making of the …
British cinema-goers are used to a short commercial before the main feature in which a film director is pitching his latest movie idea to some corporate suits whose only interest is that the film should promote a certain mobile phone network at every opportunity. So it’s not such a strange idea that a well-known Korean … [Read More]
The official announcement of Jang Song-thaek’s execution
From the KCNA’s English-language website run from Japan. Among his crimes: Half-heartedly clapping when Kim 3 was appointed vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers’ Party of Korea projecting himself internally and externally as a special being on a par with the headquarters of the revolution Preventing a tile factory from erecting a … [Read More]
Brief film review: Hope / Wish (Lee Jun-ik, 2013)
One of the more anticipated films of the 2013 London Korean Film Festival was Lee Jun-ik’s Hope, a harrowing family drama examining the long-term effects caused by the traumatic sexual assault on a young girl by a construction worker near her school. It’s a powerful film which one won’t watch for pleasure, or indeed watch … [Read More]
Kimjang gets a UNESCO listing
Kimjang, the making and sharing of kimchi in the Republic of Korea, was admitted to the UNESCO register of intangible cultural heritage on 5 December 2013. Note that, like the listing of Arirang, this pan-Korean cultural item has been registered by South Korea. Links: Kimjang page at UNESCO Update 13 December: The South China Morning … [Read More]