Today is LKL’s 19th birthday – we launched on 1 March 2006. I’m hoping to celebrate by getting myself a ticket for one or two of the Korean movies at BFI Flare. Somehow. But there’s plenty else to keep me occupied if I’m not successful – like Sun-Mi Hong at the Vortex.
Screenings
- BFI Flare (19-26 March) has three Korean movies and one Korean American movie. Unfortunately most of the tickets sold out instantly.
- Bong Joon-ho’s Mickey 17 get its theatrical release on 7 March
- If you follow the American TV drama White Lotus (available in the UK on Now TV) look out for Blackpink member Lalisa Manoban (Lisa) as a health mentor at the resort.
Exhibitions
- Catch them while you can:
- Collect 2025 finishes at Somerset House on 2 March
- Mire Lee’s Hyundai Commission at Tate Modern is uninstalled after 16 March
- K-Women: Celebrating Korean Female Artists closes at Kingston Museum on 8 March
- Bestselling and Beloved: Korean Literary Treasures, closes at KCCUK on 21 March
- Journey to New Traditions closes at Han Collection on 6 March
- New this month:
- Hyangmok Baik: Home is at Beers London from 6 March
- Still on:
- The Korean lives and legacies of Richard and Joan Rutt, at Durham’s Oriental Museum, until 4 May
Live music, dance and theatre
- Ahn Eun-me’s Dragons continues its nationwide tour (Canterbury | Brighton | Milton Keynes | Newcastle | Inverness | Bradford | Birmingham). Highly recommended
- Kim’s Convenience starts its nationwide tour. This month: Leeds | Derby | Kingston | Southend. Again, highly recommended
- Dancer Suyoung Park performs Heterogeneous Aesthetics at the K-Women exhibition in Kingston on 8 March, marking International Womens Day
- There’s an evening of Korean music and culture at Poplar Union on 6 March
- Minjung Baek performs at Steinway Studios to mark the release of her new Beethoven Sonata CD, also on 6 March (now sold out)
- Enjoy Korean Folk Tales: A Blend of Korean and Western Music at St Giles’ Cripplegate on 12 March
- Sun-mi Hong launches her new album at the Vortex on 24 March
- aespa’s Synk – Parallel Line tour comes to Wembley Arena on 2 March
- Kiss Of Life: 1st World Tour: Kiss Road comes to indigo at the o2 on 6 March
- SHINee’s Taemin comes to the Troxy on 9 March
- Jooyoung performs in the Vauxhall Arches on 14 March
- The Black Skirts come to the Clapham Grand on 16 March
- Tomorrow X Together come to the O2 on 25 March
- In Cambridge, the University Samulnori Society performs at Emmanuel College on 2 March.
Talks and other events
- KCCUK hosts two talks by SOAS PhD candidates on Joseon dynasty history to mark International Womens Day:
- Governance from Behind the Bamboo Curtain: Joseon’s Queen Dowager Regencies (5 March)
- Gender Propriety and Women’s Capacities as Moral Agents (8 March)
- Charlotte Horlyck talks on The Emergence of the Korean Art Collector and the Korean Art Market at the Royal Asiatic Society on 4 March
- SOAS hosts three talks:
- In Edinburgh, Jim Hoare speaks on Britain and the DPRK, 1948-2025 (6 March)
- A Korean popular culture store has opened downstairs at 30 Haymarket, near Piccadilly Circus. You need to be proficient in Instagram to figure out whether it’s a pop-up or something more permanent. Open till late.
- BKS members should expect notification of their AGM, sometime in the last week of March.
Further ahead
April is currently looking very quiet, but in May:
- There may still be one or two tickets left for Seongjin Cho’s solo Ravel recital at the Barbican on 2 May
- Similarly, Yunchan Lim playing a Chopin concerto at the Albert Hall on 20 May
- Book now for the Festival of Korean Dance
- Tickets are still available for Jaha Koo’s Haribo Kimchi at the Purcell Room 13/14 May
Books
- Just published:
- Snowy Day and Other Stories by Lee Chang-dong tr Chang Yoosup, Heinz Insu Fenkl pub Penguin US
- The Routledge Handbook of Early Modern Korea, ed Eugene Y Park
- Sun & Ssukgat: The Korean Art of Self-Care, Wellness, and Longevity, by Michelle Jungmin Bang pub Little Brown
- Expected this month
- Hidden Heroes: Anthology of North Korean Fiction, ed Immanuel Kim and Benoit Berthelier pub Anthem Press
- Counterattacks at Thirty, by Sohn Won-pyung tr Sean Lin Hilbert pub HarperVia
- A Thousand Blues, by Cheon Seon-ran tr Kim Chi-young pub Doubleday
Albums
- Just released: Park Jiha – All Living Things (Glitterbeat)
- Coming this month: Sun-mi Hong – Fourth Page: Meaning of a Nest (Edition Records)
Many happy returns – nineteen years is a fair effort!
Thanks Tony!