Just as the Korean film scene seems to be losing some of its buzz, books about it are coming thick and fast. 2004 saw the Wallflower Press book (though it seems only last year that it came out); 2005 saw the Julian Stringer / Shin Chi-yun book; and last year came the book on Kim … [Read More]
LKL articles by Philip Gowman (page 201)
Millennium Dream – ceramic and textile artists from Gyeongsangbuk-do
It’s taken a while, but here is some more information on the artists and artisans from Gyeongsangbuk-do who were exhibiting in Mayfair earlier this year. It’s a shame that their sojourn was so brief. The quality and interest of their work was equal to that displayed in the Traditional Yet Contemporary exhibition last year, and … [Read More]
Brits need not apply
Or Aussies or Kiwis for that matter. A full-page ad in the current issue of Seoul Magazine seeks to satisfy Korea’s seemingly insatiable appetite for English language teachers. The ad starts: Thousands of College Graduates are going to South Korea to teach English to pay off their student loans and to gain international experience. The … [Read More]
Cute videos featuring brotherly love
I couldn’t resist posting these videos. Read the Party Pooper’s commentary on them here, with links to more SuJu vids. First, Super Junior – stranded on the road to Busan, only 21 dollars between them, and having to share a room for the night. Sweet. And now TVXQ / DBSK Read Rowan Pease’s commentary on … [Read More]
Sorok Island joined to the mainland
Yi Chong-jun’s (이청준) novel on the subject is called Your Paradise. Looking at the beach above you see maybe one reason. But Sorok Island (소록도) is Korea’s best known leper colony. As Brother Anthony explains, in Yi’s book, the subject is the relation between the individual and the collective. The setting is the remote leper … [Read More]
Book review: J Scott Burgeson — Korea Bug
J Scott Burgeson: Korea Bug Eunhaeng Namu, Seoul, 2005 A recent article in the JoongAng daily about a foreigner in Seoul who hasn’t made himself popular with hypersensitive and volatile Korean netizens introduced me to a gem. Burgeson, a foreigner who has been in Seoul since 1996 is one of the more unusual expats out … [Read More]
The fate of North Korean returnees
“The only way I’m going back to Korea is in a coffin” said a North Korean woman now living in China. Her story, recently told in the Daily Telegraph, is typical of the experience of a certain category of North Koreans in China. What that category is called depends on your orientation — economic migrants, … [Read More]
Growing interest in DPRK art show
The North Korean art exhibition in Pall Mall is gathering momentum. A small-scale re-hang has seen more propaganda posters in the window facing the Institute of Directors (above), which encourages passing traffic. The jewel painting is now hung so that pedestrians in the Royal Opera Arcade get greeted by it. The big painting of the … [Read More]
The Korean peasants’ revolt
Anyone who has read Yi Mun-yol’s popular book The Poet may be interested in a new book which sets out the historical background. In Yi’s fictional biography, the poet Kim Sakkat is ostracised from society, condemned to life as a vagabond, because of his grandfather’s actions during the peasants’ revolt in Northest Korea in 1812. … [Read More]
Britain, Korea linked in airline “price fixing”
Both BA and KAL get multi-million fines, while equally guilty sneaks Virgin and Lufthansa escape punishment. Whatever, I’ll still fly Virgin in preference to BA whenever I can. Links: British Airways and Korean Air Lines fined by regulators for price-fixing, International Herald Tribune, 1 August 2007. Also covered by Reuters. [Read More]
August Events 2007
This month the focus is emphatically on Edinburgh. The events taking place as part of the Festival Fringe and the Film Festival are too numerous to type out again, given that I’ve listed them out in posts over the past couple of days. They are all in the events calendar, but please check with the … [Read More]
A North Korean coup, years in the planning
Prologue The North Korean flag stirred gently in the breeze in Pall Mall, the heart of London’s clubland, a few hundred yards from Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square. An elderly gentleman pottered up the steps to the Athenaeum. The blue and red flag caught his eye, but its significance did not register. A young woman … [Read More]
Pastor Bae Hyun-kyu
Just received from a reader On behaf of Avaaz.org, I am asking the Korean Community to remeber the death of Pastor Bae Hyun-Kyu who was killed on his 42nd birthday on Wednesday 25th July by the Taliban militia in Central Afghanistan. Also, let us remember the 22 remaining hostage in Ghazni, who were due to … [Read More]
Britain in 2007: North Korean policies, South Korean branding
July has seen two dramatic changes in Britain. A new regime in Westminster and the implementation of a draconian measure in the name of public health. On the latter point, England is catching up with Scotland, who implemented a smoking ban last year. And also with North Korea: The North Korean capital, Pyongyang, has reportedly … [Read More]
Last chance to see Oh Tae Seok’s masterpiece
The enigmatically titled Bicycle finishes this weekend. The play is performed by a western cast, in the English translation by Kim Ah-jeong and RB Graves, in Camden People’s Theatre, an intimate space (audience capacity around 40 I would reckon) near Euston Station. Oh Tae-Seok is known for making the audience work, skipping parts of the … [Read More]
A guide to Los Angeles Koreatown
For a good description of Los Angeles Koreatown, pay LAist a visit. Some good pictures, and also a 5 minute video right at the bottom of the post. See if you can work out how to cook a kimchi chigae from the edited version in the video. One day I’ll persuade someone to do a … [Read More]