Susie Younger: Never ending flower Collins Harvill, 1967 To describe this book as a memoir of a Catholic missionary in South Korea in the early 1960s, while factually correct, undersells it. Yes, the author is a person of deep Christian faith, but her work in Korea is more that of a social worker than evangelist. … [Read More]
LKL articles by Philip Gowman (page 217)
Clazziquai Project #1: Instant Pig
A combination of Acid Jazz, electronica and chill-out lounge, with sometimes a flavour of Latin (the fifth track, novabossa, could almost come from an Astrud Gilberto album). The instrumental emphasis is very much on electronic sounds, though some tracks benefit from acoustic guitar. The vocals are always pleasant and relaxed. There’s nothing terribly profound here, … [Read More]
DPRK Foreign ministry statement on six party talks
Received from the embassy on 2 November Spokesman for DPRK Foreign Ministry on Resumption of Six-Party Talks A spokesman for the DPRK Foreign Ministry gave the following answer to a question put by KCNA on Nov. 1 as regards the bilateral and multi-lateral contacts made in Beijing with main emphasis on the DPRK-U.S. contact: The … [Read More]
Kangta #3: Persona
(March 2005) This album is a winner. Some might dismiss it as pure kitsch, standard Korean ballad / R&B fayre, but it’s always just within the bounds of good taste. For those unfamiliar with K-pop stars, Kangta is a solo act which spun off from the now defunct boy band H.O.T. (Highfive of Teenagers) and … [Read More]
Another internet concept which almost works. But doesn’t.
Browsing aimlessly (trying to find reviews of Korean popular music CDs) recently I came across Last.fm, an internet radio station. It claims to have a huge playlist, and what’s played to you is determined by what styles you select and the sort of stuff your buddies are listening to. It seems very promising, with all … [Read More]
November events 2006
Here are the events we know about for November: Till 2 November: Korean Film at the 50th BFI London Film Festival 7 November, 6pm: Auction of Modern Japanese and Korean Ceramics — including many items shown at the “Traditional Yet Contemporary” show – at Bonhams, New Bond Street 15 November 2006 – 28 February 2007: … [Read More]
Lee Soo Young #6: The Colors of my Life
A great ballad album. From the big ballad 휠릴리 (track 4) via the more intimate 너도 그런지.. and Sam Lee’s funk-inspired “You want me” (featuring Eric) to a more R&B 겁쟁이 (track 7), Lee Soo Young shows how it should be done. She has a good team of song-writers — showing that you don’t have … [Read More]
Donald Kirk & Choe Sang-hun (eds): Korea Witness
Korea Witness: 135 Years of War, Crisis and News in the Land of the Morning Calm (EunHaengNaMu, Seoul, 2006) A tribute to the many foreign correspondents who have worked in Seoul, this book celebrates 50 years of the Seoul Foreign Correspondents Club. The book starts with one of the first mentions of Korea in the … [Read More]
Chae-jin Lee: A Troubled Peace
Chae-jin Lee: A Troubled Peace — US Policy and the Two Koreas Johns Hopkins Univ Press, 2006 A very thorough review of the history of the relations between the US and (the two) Korea(s) over the past hundred or so years. To me, there’s rather too many trees and not enough wood, but I guess … [Read More]
My chance of media fame. Blown
At around 4:40pm on Monday afternoon I get a phone call on my mobile. It’s from the Chosun 24 hour TV channel. They had my card from the Typhoon screening a couple of weeks back, when they were interviewing anyone they could find. They wanted to do another interview. A ten minute one. But I … [Read More]
North Korea Detonates 40 Years Of GDP
Remains Of Country’s Economy Sent Deep Into Earth’s Core For a bit of light relief, visit the Onion. Here’s a representative extract. PYONGYANG, NORTH KOREA — A press release issued by the state-run Korean Central News Agency Monday confirmed that the Oct. 9 underground nuclear test in North Korea’s Yanggang province successfully exploded the communist … [Read More]
Condom sales, motel bookings surge after DPRK nuclear test
The Chosun reports a surge in condom sales and in love motel bookings in the days and weeks following North Korea’s nuke test on October 9th. I hope the world’s not going to end quite yet. [Read More]
Circuit Diagram at Cell gallery
What do a 20 dollar bill, a spirit level, a geodesic dome, and a loudspeaker chanting Mongolian love songs in Korean have in common? That’s the question posed by the introduction to a multinational contemporary art show in the Cell gallery space in Cambridge Heath Road, Hackney. And answered. The loudspeaker chanting the Mongolian love … [Read More]
KEB: the raids continue
In a seemingly never-ending quest to blame someone for the profits that Lone Star made out of their KEB investment, the prosecutors recently knocked on the doors of Citibank’s Seoul office and impounded paperwork and PCs. The BBC reports (17 October): The investigation follows claims that KEB’s financial ill-health had been exaggerated so as to … [Read More]
Daniel Gordon’s latest, and other NY Times DPRK coverage
The coverage at the NY Times in the past few days has been something else. A piece on Daniel Gordon’s third film on the DPRK, Crossing the Line (Image above, from VeryMuchSo Productions), which premiered at PIFF recently. I hope it comes to the UK soon. I’ve just emailed Nick Bonner to find out. Some … [Read More]
More commentary on DPRK nukes
The commentary from Kim Myong Chol published in the Asia Times Online on Oct 6 is puzzling. As the Asia Times explains, Kim Myong-chol is author of a number of books and papers in Korean, Japanese and English on North Korea. He is executive director of the Centre for Korean-American Peace. He has a PhD … [Read More]