This kind of thing completely dwarfs export earnings from film and TV drama: Hyundai's huge construction projects including the proposed Hanoi Marriott (above) http://bit.ly/cyoeS0 # [Read More]
LKL articles by Philip Gowman (page 154)
Pastel scarves for men the latest fashion craze
I can see pretty male silk scarves lasting about as long as male sarongs. http://bit.ly/9AUYwV # [Read More]
Mount Baekdu will erupt soon, say geologists
As if everything to do with North Korea isn’t depressing enough already, we are warned that Mount Baekdu will erupt in the next few years. http://bit.ly/9WVVgO # [Read More]
Kia Cee’d is Top Gear’s Sensible Car
"The Kia Cee’d is a car that lobs the paving slab of reality into the windscreen of preconception". Review on Top Gear, where it gets a creditable 11/20. It’s also the “sensible” car driven by celebs in the new TV series. http://bit.ly/9Qmh4s # [Read More]
Wake Up and Laugh!
Just discovered a great Korean Buddhist blog, Wake Up and Laugh! Their latest post Three months of eating garlic and mugwort analyses the Tangun myth, and in passing talks about the Korean saying “In the days when tigers smoked tobacco…”. # [Read More]
The Korea Teddy Bear Association
Korea has a Teddy Bear Association? I thought it was only Brits who were so cranky. Do you think that group of bears is meant to be Super Junior T? http://bit.ly/cNoXQ6 # [Read More]
Demick wins Samuel Johnson prize
Congratulations to Barbara Demick for winning the Samuel Johnson Prize for Nothing to Envy (reviewed by LKL here) Through extensive interviews with defectors, Los Angeles Times journalist Barbara Demick shows in a compelling and unforgettable way that this hermetic country is Orwell’s 1984 made reality. Sources: Samuel Johnson Prize website | Guardian # [Read More]
July events 2010
Now that the football’s over, there’s something for everyone this month: an Asian food festival at Tower Bridge, a Korean Romeo and Juliet in Kingston and the continued Korean War commemorations at the KCC including the Present from the Past exhibition, plus the return of Korean Eye at the Saatchi Gallery. Here’s the list as … [Read More]
2010 Travel Diary #22: A sense of direction
Thursday 6 May 2010. I’m somewhat stiff from sleeping on the floor. Throughout the night different parts of my body were suffering from pins and needles. But the location was peaceful, and I get up rested. Overnight rain has made everything seem greener, but low cloud clinging to the hilltops and wisps of mist rolling … [Read More]
An evening with Changrae Lee
LKL reports from the evening with Korean American author Changrae Lee, chaired by Erica Wagner, as part of the Asia House Festival of Asian Literature, 24 May 2010. The Asia House Festival of Asian Literature, now in its fifth year, for the first time included Korean representation this year. With such a title, you might … [Read More]
Struggling with all the Shinga
Well, I just finished this year's essay book (Park Wan-suh’s Who ate all the Shinga?) and it's even harder than last year. Nothing to get your teeth into. And that wasn’t meant to be a pun. Last year’s text at least gave you a challenge in trying to understand it. This year’s adds very little … [Read More]
Republic of Korea thanks UK war veterans
LKL reports from an event commemorating the 60th anniversary of the start of the Korean War, held on HMS Belfast on 25 June 2010. The HMS Belfast was the perfect venue for one of many events taking place across the globe to mark the 60th anniversary of Kim Il-sung’s troops storming south over the 38th … [Read More]
2010 Travel Diary #21: The jjimjilbang experience
Wednesday 5 May 2010. It was only a couple of hours ago that we had eaten lunch, but Koreans seem to have dinner early. During the tea festival, our guide Isabelle does well for food: she is usually entertained by the people she is showing around, and this time is no exception. We go to … [Read More]
Pimatgol at Night, by the Metropolitician
"To Hell and Back" and the "Dirty" Streets of Seoul. The Metropolitician’s essay on Pimatgol and Seoul at night is well worth a read: http://bit.ly/9QhkKv # [Read More]
2010 Travel Diary #20: The House of Choi Champan
Wednesday 5 May 2010. What is authenticity? Probably, over the course of Korea’s long history, most of Korea’s precious buildings have burned down and been rebuilt. It’s a natural hazard of building from sustainable materials such as wood. Marauding invaders or revolting slaves can cause great destruction with just a single spark. The reconstruction work … [Read More]
2010 Travel Diary #19: Hadong, the home of Korean green tea
Wednesday 5 May 2010. As we pick up the signs to Hadong, along the Seomjingang river, the other side of which is Jeollanam-do, we see our first neatly trimmed tea-bushes. These, I am later told, are the cultivated tea plants. You know the famous photos of the Boseong tea slopes in Jeollanam-do, with beautifully serried … [Read More]