Tabloid story of the week: eight South Koreans arrested over alleged scheme to smuggle gold to Japan in their rectums: http://t.co/OB5hfpQn (via the Marmot) [Read More]
LKL articles by Philip Gowman (page 115)
The Shin Sang-ok Pulgasari meet-up
Back home after a great movie meetup to see Pulgasari with @miniminimovies @HangulCelluloid and @cinemasia_nl. Well, the meetup was good anyway. Says HangulCelluloid: “I’ve got some rice to mould into a monster and I may drip blood on it later” [Read More]
CNN’s 50 beautiful places to visit in Korea
CNN GO has some great ideas for 50 beautiful places to visit in Korea outside of Seoul. Nice pics too. http://t.co/YjTrdiFw [Read More]
Korean honeymoon couple rescued from cruise wreck
This Korean couple will remember their Italian honeymoon cruise for all the wrong reasons: http://t.co/TJAaB6xM [Read More]
North Korean fashion, North Korean hagiography. Two recent articles worth reading
In the last couple of weeks we’ve had wall-to-wall coverage of succession issues in the DPRK, and there’s been far too much to read even half of it. Some organs which previously have had little coverage of the Korean peninsula have had to publish some platitudes just to show willing, while other publications have wheeled … [Read More]
Harris Tweed targets Korea
The largest producer of Harris Tweed has made South Korea its target market for growth in 2012, according to the BBC http://t.co/MPC98eh0 via @rjkoehler [Read More]
Incheon Airport is thinking of buying Edinburgh
Incheon Airport is thinking of buying and operating Edinburgh, Scotland’s busiest airport. The National Pension Service already owns some of Gatwick http://t.co/zSIbeFpO [Read More]
Shin Kyung-sook on MAN shortlist
Congratulations to Shin Kyung-sook, whose Please Look After Mother (translated by Kim Chi-young) is shortlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize, announced yesterday: http://t.co/hORsoPB9 (Photo: Korea Herald) Update 8 March 2012: the title has also been included in the longlist for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2012 – an award established by the Independent newspaper … [Read More]
Look out for the adult-themed animation The Dearest
Korea is really putting its adult themed marks on animations. I’ll be watching out for THE DEAREST (2011) http://t.co/Zf8ES0Tp – says @KoreanFilmBiz [Read More]
The London Korean Links Awards 2011
The sixth of LKL’s annual unscientific and very personal recognition of the best things of last year. And in the field of film, books and CDs what is encouraging is that there is so much to choose from. There were also plenty of good Korean cultural events in London, Edinburgh and elsewhere, but there was … [Read More]
WHITE (2011): another vengeful ghost
WHITE (2011): another vengeful ghost, this time haunting the world of K-pop. Sounds brilliant. http://t.co/GvCtEr1k RT @ColetteBalmain It has gone right to the top of my watching pile. [Read More]
President Lee’s New Year Message: Beyond Crisis Toward Hope
After the wordy joint new year editorial of the North Korean newspapers, President Lee’s New Year Message is more concise and to the point. It addresses the North Korean issue, insisting that dialogue is possible: “Peace and security on the Korean Peninsula and reunification are the tasks that should be addressed jointly by both the … [Read More]
2012 Joint New Year Editorial: “The entire army should place absolute trust in Kim Jong Un and defend him unto death”
The customary New Year joint editorial published by the major North Korean newspapers serves to reinforce the position of Kim Jong Un, who is mentioned 15 times in this 5,700-word exhortatory message. “The whole Party, the entire army and all the people” is encouraged to “become human bulwarks and human shields in defending Kim Jong … [Read More]
Darcy’s top 10 of 2011
Darcy at Koreanfilm.org has compiled his top 10 list for the year with a surprising amount of low budget independents. Via @KoreanFilmBiz [Read More]
A new Kyung Hyun Kim book hits the stores soon
I confess that I didn’t much enjoy Kyung Hyun Kim’s first book – The Remasculinization of Korean Cinema – but I’ll still be getting his new one, Virtual Hallyu – Korean Cinema of the Global Era, which is available from Amazon later this month. [Read More]
LKL Critics’ Choice 2011: Philip
2011 all told was not a bad year for K-pop, and K-indie too is reaching listeners through more outlets. My own record-buying was somewhat slower than in previous years, but nevertheless I picked up enough to have a lot of rejects in my pile. And here are five of the disks that will stay with … [Read More]