London Korean Links

Covering things Korean in London and beyond since 2006

Month: November 2016

The folding plug makes it on to the high street

posted updated 11 Mar 2026 by Philip Gowman < 1 minute read

Seen in Maplins Canary Wharf branch yestserday: The electrical and gadget retailer is stocking the folding plug designed by Choi Min-kyu. Fantastic news that the product has made it onto the high street. We first noticed the idea back in 2009, and saw the next iteration in 2013. Looking at the elegant USB chargers I … [Read More]

Liberation Day gets international premiere at IDFA

posted updated 11 Mar 2026 by Philip Gowman < 1 minute read

Morten Traavik, the man who brought us a North Korean accordion quintet covering a Norwegian synthpop track, now gives us a documentary about a Slovenian art-rock band performing versions of songs from The Sound of Music in North Korea. Read a review of the “documentary musical” Liberation Day in the Guardian. More info on Morten … [Read More]

Book review: Park Wan-suh — Lonesome You

posted updated 27 Jul 2022 by Philip Gowman 5 minute read

Park Wan-suh: Lonesome You Translated by Elizabeth Haejin Yoon Dalkey Archive, 2015, 252pp Originally published as 너무도 쓸쓸한 당신, Seoul, 1998. I came to Lonesome You with fairly neutral expectations. I had read Who Ate All the Shinga, the story of Park’s childhood in the late 1940s and through the war years. It was an interesting … [Read More]

K-indie on BBC World Service

posted updated 17 Mar 2026 by Philip Gowman 2 minute read

Bernie Cho of DFSB Kollective (@DFSB_Kollective) presented a 50-minute programme for BBC World Service Radio this weekend highlighting some of the freshest indie sounds from Korea. Bernie interviews all the musicians and we get a few videos as well on the BBC website. The playlist is as follows: Goonam: Jangdan, from their 2011 album Woojung … [Read More]

Festival film review: Yourself and Yours

posted updated 15 Aug 2022 by Robert Cottingham 2 minute read

Hong Sang-soo (홍상수) Yourself and Yours (당신 자신과 당신의 것, 2016) Review by Robert Cottingham. You can tell from the opening titles exactly the kind of film this is going to be. Black Korean calligraphy on a white background suggests an intelligent and possibly artistic film and the lively classical music hints at a sophisticated comedy on … [Read More]

Book Review: The Story of Hong Gildong

posted updated 27 Jul 2022 by Philip Gowman 3 minute read

Anon (attr Heo Kyun): The Story of Hong Gildong Translated with an introduction and notes by Minsoo Kang Penguin, 2016, 100pp Penguin has done us a favour by bringing us this new translation of a classic Korean tale, along with a useful introduction and notes. Hong Gildong is often described as the Korean Robin Hood … [Read More]

Director Park Hong-min interview: “we were all trying to express our loneliness”

posted updated 21 Feb 2026 by Hangul Celluloid 8 minute read

Director Park Hong-min discusses A Fish and Alone, tracing their roots in loneliness, memory, and self-analysis. He addresses the film education system in Korea and the struggles of truly independent filmmaking, and talks about casting choices, shamanism, long takes, handmade 3D and a commitment to personal questions over commercial formulas.Director Park Hong-min discusses A Fish and Alone, tracing their roots in loneliness, memory, and self-analysis. He addresses the film education system in Korea and the struggles of truly independent filmmaking, and talks about casting choices, shamanism, long takes, handmade 3D and a commitment to personal questions over commercial formulas. [Read More]

Gangnam Style remembered on Strictly

posted updated 14 Feb 2022 by Philip Gowman < 1 minute read

Thanks to would-be Labour finance minister Ed Balls for brightening up our dull Autumn on the BBC’s celebrity talent show Strictly Come Dancing. Consistently at the bottom of the scoreboard, he is saved by the popular vote. In the most recent episode he had the guts to do a Gangnam Style inspired Salsa, choreographed (with … [Read More]

Review: Bongsu Park’s Crossing Over – Ritual of Grief

posted updated 25 Nov 2025 by Philip Gowman 4 minute read

Bongsu Park’s two-part work, Crossing Over – Ritual of Grief, is an ambitious piece lasting for almost two hours which saw its first performance spread over two weekends in two different locations during August. It blends contemporary electronic music with traditional Korean music, and contemporary dance with traditional Korean dance such as Salpuri. Appropriately enough … [Read More]