A busy month, the highlight probably being IU’s performance at Wembley Arena. Glastonbury ticketholders will also be able to see Seventeen on the main Pyramid stage. For those who follow hallyu stars from an earlier generation, you can meet former FinKL member Ok Joo-hyun who is in town to mark the London production of the Korean musical Marie Curie. Jane Portal and Beth McKillop launch their Precious Beyond Measure, and Kim Youngna will no doubt be available to sign her Korean Art since 1945 down in Brighton. Plus three regional universities celebrate a Korea Day and New Malden celebrates Dano.
Live performance
- Marie Curie, the Musical, opens its 2 month run at the Charing Cross Theatre on 1 June
- The final act of the 2023 Festival of Korean Dance, Ae-soon Ahn’s Cheok, is in London on 1 June and Salford on 3 and 4 June
- OnlyOneOf’s world tour comes to Heaven on 2 Jun
- TRI.BE’s True Diamond tour comes to the Brixton Jamm on 11 June
- IVE’s “Show What I Have” tour is at the o2 on 16 June
- IU’s HEREH tour is at Wembley Arena on 21 June
- Seventeen play Glastonbury Pyramid Stage sometime during the festival, 26 – 30 June
Cultural celebrations
- There are Korean days at the Universities of Liverpool (Mountford Hall, 1 June), Oxford (Cohen Quad, 8 June) and Leeds (School of Music, 13-14 June)
- The North Korean Residents Society celebrates Dano, 2 June
Screen
- Jason Yu’s Sleep is screening at Raindance film festival, 20 June
- The 1-hour BBC TV documentary on the Burning Sun scandal is on iPlayer and should be broadcast on TV soon. Also available on YouTube
- There’s a screening of the original cast performance of the musical Marie Curie on 8 June, with Q&A with the original stars Ok Joo-hyun and Kim So-hyang
- There’s a Refugee Week screening of the brief documentary about New Malden North Koreans: ‘Little Pyongyang’ 21 June
Arts and exhibitions
- Archipelagic Void – Minsuk Cho’s Pavilion is unveiled at the Serpentine Gallery on 7 June
- The Delight media art exhibition has been further extended into June
- The KCC’s Exhibition: 26, Your Korean Words runs until 22 June
- In Edinburgh, Suh Do-Ho’s Tracing Time continues at NGS Modern One
- Sunyoung Hwang’s The Listened Landscape is at Frestonian Gallery until 22 June
Talks, seminars, conferences
- From Shadows to Light: an afternoon of talks on North Korean human rights takes place on 8 June
- Cho Yeeun, author of the recently published novel The New Seoul Park Jelly Massacre, talks at the KCC (via videolink) on 8 June
- The symposium Visuality, Nationhood and Power Relations: Representation of Korea in World’s Fairs and Expositions in in Brighton. 13 June, with Kim Youngna as keynote speaker
- The Joint East Asian studies conference is at UCLan, 26 – 28 June
Publications expected
(plus one from April omitted from previous iterations of this list)
- Fiction:
- Three new translations by Janet Hong from Open Letter:
- Years and Years, by Hwang Jungeun tr Janet Hong
- Rina, by Kang Young-sook tr Janet Hong and Kim Boram
- Wafers, by Ha Seong-nan tr Janet Hong
- Two new translations by Anton Hur:
- A Magical Girl Retires, by Park Seolyeon pub HarperVia
- Grocery List, by Bora Chung pub Hanuman Editions
- Three new translations by Janet Hong from Open Letter:
- Non-fiction:
- The Korean War Novel: Rewriting History from the Civil War to the Post-Cold War by Suk Koo Rhee pub Edinburgh University Press
- Precious Beyond Measure: A History of Korean Ceramics, by Beth McKillop, Jane Portal pub Reaktion Books
- Korean Art Since 1945: Challenges and Changes, by Kim Youngna pub Brill (in April)