London Korean Links

Covering things Korean in London and beyond since 2006

Dulsori in Evelyn Glennie’s Songlines playlist

I’ve just belatedly been going through my recent purchases of Songlines magazine, the world music publication which gave Hyelim Kim a 4-star review this time last year. I spotted that their October 2014 edition featured a playlist recommended by Evelyn Glennie – of which the first track was by the Korean percussion group Dulsori: Drum … [Read More]

Tengger’s European Tour – the London performance

Long-standing LKL readers will recall that one of Anna Lindgren’s first contributions, way back in March 2007, was a feature on experimental Korean musician itta. At the time, itta had several musical projects on the go, one of which was the duo 10 with Japanese musician Marqido. The two of them are now married, and … [Read More]

Chaebols muscle in on craft beer

There’s an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal’s Korean blog about the improvement in South Korea’s beer scene since the relaxation of rules which prohibited you from selling beer unless you were one of the big boys. But the small brewers are now facing competition from a craft beer pub set up by one … [Read More]

Meet the Met’s Korean Community Engagement Officer

Theatre 4 All’s Radio Bang is a regular internet radio broadcast focusing on the Korean community in New Malden and Kingston. Shin Bona and Hwang Sumin do valuable work in building bridges between the Koreans and non-Koreans. In this broadcast, they chat with Glenna De Bosco, the Korean Engagement Officer for the Metropolitan Police. Radio … [Read More]

Season’s Greetings to all our readers

Best wishes for Christmas and the New Year to all of LKL’s readers, friends and contributors. Have a peaceful break. For this year’s holiday season we commissioned a special London Korean winter design from the wonderful Jieun Kim aka The Drawing Hand. We are delighted with the results, so we’re sharing it with you here. … [Read More]

K-Arts Dance Company in Triple Bill at Laban Theatre

The Dance Company from the Korea National University of the Arts makes its UK debut: K-Arts Dance Company: Triple Bill Laban Theatre | Creekside | London SE8 3DZ | www.trinitylaban.ac.uk Wed 28 January 2015, 7:30pm This UK premiere performance celebrates the exciting partnership between two institutions offering the highest level of dance training: Trinity Laban … [Read More]

Festival Film reviews: we also went to…

We’ve almost finished clearing the London Korean Film Festival backlog, the only major review outstanding now being Park Chan-kyong’s fascinating documentary Manshin. While I’m polishing that, here are a few brief reviews of the films I didn’t feel moved to write dedicated articles about. Han Gong-ju A heavy and depressing story redeemed by the sensitive … [Read More]

The 41st London Open Baduk Congress

Ever been interested in finding out what Go / Baduk is all about? If you’re around in London later this month, that’s your chance. If you play, you can register to participate. Or you can just go along to watch. 41st London Open Go Congress 2014 28th – 31st December 2014, International Students House 229 … [Read More]

Festival Film Review: This Road Called Life

Following on from the success of their feature-length animation Green Days, Studio MWP worked with Korean TV broadcaster EBS to produce a trio of short films which adapt three familiar short stories which are studied by most Koreans in high school: Yi Hyo-seok’s Buckwheat Season, Kim Yu-jeong’s Spring, Spring, and A Lucky Day by Hyun … [Read More]

UK Foreign Office trains DPRK journalists

According to today’s Sunday Express, A group of 46 North Korean “journalists” are on a UK study course in media skills funded by the Foreign Office… Lord Alton of Liverpool, chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on North Korea, accused the Foreign Office of “investing in people who are official mouthpieces of the regime”…The Foreign … [Read More]