Just received this from Tom Coyner – a circular email sent by campaigner for DPRK human rights Dr Norbert Vollertsen. Coming back from Thailand after taking care for arrested North Korean refugees and South Korean activists there here in downtown Seoul I was attacked by a street gang and knocked down in the middle of … [Read More]
LKL articles by Philip Gowman (page 220)
Sunwook Kim triumphs at Leeds piano competition
Thanks to Aidan Foster-Carter for the following: It was a notable night for Korea at the finals of the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition 2006. Held triennially, this is one of the world’s leading prizes. Past winners include Radu Lupu, Murray Perahia, Dmitri Alexeev, and Artur Pizarro. To those illustrious names, add Sunwook Kim (above): at … [Read More]
Seoul’s relations with Africa and Cuba
AidanFC’s recent article in the Asia Times noted that South Korea now has diplomatic relations with all the African countries, with the opening of ambassador-level relations with the Republic of Guinea on 28 August. He gives some of the history There was a time when Guinea was a beacon of the Afro-Asian struggle against colonialism. … [Read More]
Brit mobilises the arts to save part of old Seoul
Thanks to David Kilburn for sending me the occasional update on his campaign to prevent Kahoi-dong, an area of traditional housing in Seoul, from being buried under mountains of concrete. He recently put on his own arts festival in his home, including two intangible cultural assets, and got the Korea Times to send along a … [Read More]
The passing of a Korean war veteran
From a recent obituary in the Telegraph: Vice-admiral Sir Charles Mills, who has died (on July 27) aged 91, was a talented staff officer whose one chance of independent command came in the destroyer Concord during the Korean War. In the course of six patrols over 95,000 miles with Dutch and New Zealand ships of … [Read More]
Learning Korean in London
I had a query recently from a visitor to this site as to where she could take beginners classes in Korean. The only place I know of is SOAS, and no-one else could think of any other places. By coincidence, I got an email from Cho Jaehee, the co-ordinator of Korean courses at SOAS, asking … [Read More]
How like “Swiri” is “The Way Home”?
That’s the intriguing question posed by Andrew Jackson’s talk at the Sheffield BAKS conference last week. It was a question prompted by a statement by Ahn Sang-gun, a senior figure in KOTRA, the Korean Trade Investment Promotion Agency, and reported in the Donga Ilbo on 5 April 2003: that The Way Home and Swiri are … [Read More]
Rollercoaster # 1: Come Closer
Rollercoaster, according to KBS, were the first Korean band to turn to Acid Jazz. Certainly one of the western bands which comes to mind when listening to this album is the Brand New Heavies. But the use of horn effects and guitar rhythms in some of the tracks also bring to mind the theme music … [Read More]
Fetishes, Phalluses and Mini-skirts – a review of The Remasculinization of Korean Cinema
Kyung Hyun Kim: The Remasculinization of Korean Cinema Duke University Press, 2004 This book is for a restricted academic readership only. I can empathise with the feeling of inadequacy, crisis and male lack which, according to Kim, plagues the majority of protagonists in Korean film (though there is a difference between me and them, namely … [Read More]
Brief review: Baudeogi at the Bloomsbury
Another entertaining evening from Think Korea. As the year progresses, the sponsors are learning about how best to introduce their wonderful shows to a western audience. This time, there was a glossy programme which set out some of the background to what we were about to see, which was helpful. There was also some useful … [Read More]
Conference report: the 2006 BAKS conference
The BAKS conference in Sheffield last week had a broad range of speakers. What follows is a personal response to the proceedings, and isn’t meant to be in any way an official account. I apologise to those speakers to whom I devote fewer words. No disrespect is intended. In any occasion like this, some talks … [Read More]
More bookshops in central London
While in the centre of town for the session on Mingei at the British Museum yesterday I thought I’d check out some bookshops. It turned out to be an expensive trip. Firstly, Arthur Probsthain. A lovely pokey little bookshop for Oriental and African books just opposite the British Museum (41 Great Russell Street WC1B 3PE). … [Read More]
DPRK e-bulletin: American sanctions
Another e-bulletin which arrived recently: DPRK Foreign Ministry Spokesman Demands U.S. Lift of Financial Sanctions Pyongyang, August 26 (KCNA) — A spokesman for the DPRK Foreign Ministry released a statement on August 26 accusing the United States of more persistently escalating its financial sanctions against the DPRK. It said: In the wake of the publication … [Read More]
DPRK e-bulletin: “Ulji focus lens” exercises
Apologies for the delay in posting this and the following e-bulletin from the London embassy of the DPRK: KPA Panmunjom Mission Terms “Ulji Focus Lens” War Action Panmunjom, August 22 (KCNA) — A spokesman for the Panmunjom Mission of the Korean People’s Army issued a statement Tuesday condemning the “Ulji Focus Lens” joint military exercises … [Read More]
Korean books in London
We were unable to give a decent answer to the recent visitor to this site who asked where he could buy Korean books in London. The best anyone could come up with was to try a trip to New Malden. [Update: there’s a Korean bookshop in New Malden which I visited recently. More info here.] … [Read More]
Foreign bank first half results
Korea’s foreign banks had a rosier first half of 2006, after a not too hot full year 2006, where the results were hit by poor positioning in their interest rate books – they were caught out by interest rate increases. Below are the results for the first six months, compared with the same period last … [Read More]