It’s getting to be that time of year again. The adverts are in Seoul magazine; Robert Koehler’s even written an article on it in June’s issue (I wonder if he actually experienced it first hand?). And it’s one of the more popular search terms which land people at this site. But before you book your … [Read More]
LKL articles by Philip Gowman (page 204)
Some videos to persuade you to come to Trafalgar Square on Sunday
Korean open-air Dano (early summer) Festival, Trafalgar Square, Sunday 17 June, 12-6pm First, here’s Team Kroniculs, aka the Jaguar Demo, who will be participating in the Taekwondo display. It’s not just martial arts they do: Next, here’s the Korean b-boy crew Rivers: They’ll be battling against the UK’s Bad Taste Cru. There will be some … [Read More]
Lim Hyung-joo: dreaming in marble halls
In the first half of the St John’s recital on Thursday, Lim Hyung-joo concentrated on the more classical end of the popera spectrum. There was a microphone on stage, and Lim stood behind it, but up until the interval the evening was un-miked. Having heard a couple of his performances on YouTube I was wondering … [Read More]
New ! Korean NewsWire service
For a while now I’ve been really frustrated at the time it takes for Korean websites to load. When browsing the news sites while eating a lunchtime sandwich at my desk I’ve got better things to do than wait for those infuriating animated adverts for scary gas-powered kimchi-fridges to load before I can read the … [Read More]
Your input is valued
Towards the end of last year I asked you to provide feedback, anonymous or otherwise, on Think Korea 2006. Part of my motive for doing that was to reflect any comments you had in my year-end roundup of 2006 events. But also I knew that the organisers were going to ask for some informal face-to-face … [Read More]
Statistics for May
Here’s the usual monthly post on traffic volumes and other miscellaneous site updates. For the first time this month I’ve started including the statistics provided by Webalizer as well as those provided by Awstats. Webalizer, as I said a month or so ago, gives readership at least 20% higher than Awstats, and therefore those will … [Read More]
Wide range of North Korean art on show this summer
David Heather, who is organising the exhibition of North Korean Art at La Galleria in Pall Mall this summer, has just emailed me images of some of the work which is being sent from the Mansudae studio in Pyongyang for the London exhibition. So here’s a flavour of what is to come: I have a … [Read More]
Kayageum player #4 in Miss Universe
Honey Lee, crowned Miss Korea in August 2006, studies traditional music at Seoul National University, specialising in the kayageum. Her mother is a professor at Ehwa, and was designated a “living cultural asset” in kayageum music earlier this year. Lee was a strong contender in this year’s Miss Universe contest, recently held in Mexico. In … [Read More]
KORUS links
The show’s not over yet on the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement, but while there’s a lull in the proceedings I’m taking the opportunity to post a few links which I’ll update as necessary. 1. The text of the draft agreement The full text – an index of all the pdf documents which make up the … [Read More]
Lim Hyung-joo, Korean popera star comes to London
Thanks to the watchful eyes of Kay, I discovered just in time for yesterday’s “what’s on” post that the Korean Residents Society have invited the youthful popera star Lim Hyung-joo to appear at St John’s Smith Square next week. The programme includes some classical lollipops plus one or two of the songs which have made … [Read More]
June events 2007
Here are the events I know about for June. And please note that the London Korean Film Festival which normally takes place at the Prince Charles Cinema at about this time of year is not happening this year. There will however be a film festival later this year, organised by the Korean Cultural Centre. Academia, … [Read More]
Korean Seasons to launch the summer
The London concert-going public groans inwardly when it sees yet another advertisement for a candle-lit Vivaldi Four Seasons performed by a scratch orchestra at some central London church or other. Such a programme must put bums on seats or else promoters wouldn’t constantly recycle it. But we yearn for something a bit more innovative. Well, … [Read More]
New record price for Korean painting
Every few months there’s another news item in the Korean press about a new domestic record price paid at auction for a Korean painting. And each time, the artist is Park Soo-keun (Bak Su-geun, 박수근) (1914-1965). The most recent record was set this month (22 May), at W4.52bn: The previous record was for Park Soo-keun’s … [Read More]
Jeon Do-yeon wins at Cannes
Congratulations to Jeon Do-yeon on winning best actress at Cannes. She was an early front-runner in the competition, and just for once those early hopes of success were justified. For the first third of its nearly two-and-a-half-hour running time, “Secret Sunshine” feels like a slightly somber fish-out-of-water comedy (reports AO Scott at the New York … [Read More]
Book review: Kim Hong-joon: Kim Ki-young
Kim Ki-young, Ed Kim Hong-joon KOFIC Korean Film Directors Series Seoul Selection, 2007 KOFIC’s enterprise in bringing out this series is greatly to be welcomed. This current instalment is particularly welcome as English-language materials on Kim Ki-young are few and far between. (Chris Berry’s web project, House of Kim Ki-young, seems to be out of … [Read More]
Chung Sung-ill: Im Kwon-taek
(Seoul Selection, 2007) Together with its sister publication, the work on Kim Ki-young, this book is the fourth and fifth in KOFIC’s series of monographs on individual Korean directors. It’s also the first time that KOFIC has charged for them. The first three were available for free download from the KOFIC website: these are only … [Read More]