Han Su-ok, a young schoolteacher, arrives in an isolated mountain village to take up her first job in an elementary school. As she gets off the bus, the village initially seems deserted, like a ghost town, hemmed in by the high forbidding walls of the surrounding mountains like a prison. You wonder what sort of … [Read More]
LKL articles by Philip Gowman (page 102)
KTLit reviews Kim Young-ha’s “Black Flower”
It’s a translation I’ve been waiting for for ages, and finally it’s out. Charles over at KTLit.com has the scoop with a very early review, but I’m not going to look until I’ve read the book myself. Every other book on my reading pile will be pushed aside. This one is top priority. It’s out … [Read More]
New publication: Hanji Unfurled
If you were inspired to find out more about hanji by Im Kwon-taek’s Scooping the Moonlight and Kim Hong-joon’s related making-of documentary, quite by chance Legacy Press published a book on it last week. It’s gone straight onto my Amazon wishlist Top Scholar and Artist Writes First American Book on Korean Papermaking (October 23, 2012, … [Read More]
Which is bigger: Gangnam Style or Dokdo?
There’s been an awful lot of Korean stuff going on this year. In the UK, All Eyes on Korea, Korea putting up a good showing in the Olympics, Im Kwon Taek in town, Lee Byung hun and BIGBANG coming soon, a huge art show at the Saatchi… and everywhere you turn there’s a certain rapper … [Read More]
Book review: Yi Mun-yol — Our Twisted Hero
Yi Mun-yol: Our Twisted Hero Originally published 1987 Translated by Kevin O’Rourke Available on Kindle (Minumsa, 2012) or hard copy (Hyperion Books, 2001) Moving to the provinces from a school in Seoul in which the social hierarchy was one he had lived with all his life, our twelve-year-old hero Han Pyongt’ae is faced with a … [Read More]
Korea – the Amsterdam of Asia?
We’ve heard of the Koreans being the Irish of Asia. But in a recent video video interview in the Wall Street Journal World Bank president Jim Yong Kim says that “Koreans have expressly said they want to be the Amsterdam of Asia.” To many, that would mean Korea wants to legalise certain narcotic substances – … [Read More]
An apology to LKL subscribers
If you are reading this, it is because you are one of my loyal subscribers who get new articles delivered into your email inbox as soon as a post is published. You’re probably waiting for news of a recently-organised event. Instead, you find a post with no useful information in it. As you may know, … [Read More]
2012 Travel Diary #19: Beopgyesa Temple and those Japanese feng-shui stakes
Beopgyesa Temple (법게사) is the highest in Sancheong County and at least the third-highest in Korea. The good people of Sancheong believe that Beopgyesa is the highest temple in South Korea, a claim which is supported by Beopgyesa’s entry on the Cultural Heritage Administration website, where the following text is to be found: “It is … [Read More]
Arson, suicide and creationism
To find the story that links arson, suicide and creationism, visit the Marmot’s Hole, where you can also find the answer to that burning question: what is the Korean for archaeopteryx? (It’s 시조새) [Read More]
Yonsei scientists zap cancer cells with magnets
This looks like an exciting development in cancer research from South Korea. “We have developed magnetic nanoparticles that turn on apoptosis cell signalling by using a magnetic field in a remote and non-invasive manner,” says Jinwoo Cheon and his Yonsei University team in the introduction to their article published in Nature Materials. “Apoptosis, also known … [Read More]
K-film at the BFI London Film Fest: Nameless Gangster outstays its welcome
What a disappointment. One of Korea’s biggest grossing films this year is just not good enough. It’s a perfectly acceptable gangster flick, but is as bloated as Choi Min-sik, who must have eaten a serious number of pies to get to his fighting weight for this film. The plot is rather charming in the way … [Read More]
K-film at the BFI London Film Fest: Doomsday Book is really not worth the effort
Doomsday Book, the first of six Korean films to screen at the 56th BFI London Film Festival is a set of three short films based loosely on a science fiction theme. The two outer segments, gentle comedies directed by Im Pil-seong (임필성), sandwich a semi-serious but nevertheless meagre filling by Kim Ji-woon entitled Heavenly Creature … [Read More]
Exhibition visit: Korean Eye 2012 – the biggest Korean art show in London yet
With the high profile exhibition of Chinese art having just opened at the Hayward Gallery, let’s not forget that there was an equally significant exhibition of contemporary Korean art at the privately funded Saatchi Gallery earlier this summer. Like many exhibitions, Korean Eye 2012 was one which needed to be visited several times. It was … [Read More]
Manhattan gets its second Michelin-starred Korean restaurant
Last year a Michelin star was awarded to Danji in Hell’s Kitchen; this year Jungsik in Tribeca joins the prestigious club, according to the Chosun Ilbo. Interesting that neither restaurant is in Manhattan’s official K-town centring on 32nd Street. Jungsik is reviewed in the New York Times here. [Read More]
Korean artists in Saatchi New Sensation 2012 shortlist
Congratulations to Jin Han Lee (Goldsmiths College) and Hyojun Hyun (Glasgow School of Art) for making the 20-strong shortlist (out of 200 applicants) of the Saatchi Gallery / Channel 4 New Sensations 2012 Prize (via London Korean Times) [Read More]
Bae Doo-na’s London fashion shoot
Bae Doo-na was in London earlier this year, staying with her language coach in preparation for the shooting of Cloud Atlas (which we’re really looking forward to at LKL). She took the time out to do a fashion shoot for Marie Claire Korea, which recently hit the news stands. Thanks to Yuna at the Marmot’s … [Read More]