A picture to gladden the heart. I assume, based on the swords being carried (presumably not standard contemporary battlefield issue) that this is a photo of a rehearsal for a public performance. Thanks as ever to Tom Coyner for this treasure. And another, unrelated, bizarre item from the North, from Der Spiegel: this coming weekend … [Read More]
LKL articles by Philip Gowman (page 222)
Advice to Americans from their embassy: steer clear of massed Koreans
It’s Independence Day. So I’ll start with some advice emailed last Friday by the American Embassy to their citzens in Korea, and then consolidate a few related links on anti-americanism. August 15 is Korean Liberation or Independence Day, and civil gatherings and demonstrations are expected throughout South Korea. A large demonstration is scheduled to start … [Read More]
Yoon Do Hyun: Difference
I often find myself puzzled by the blurb at YesAsia. The editorial commentary on Yoon Do Hyun’s second solo project, Difference, is stranger than usual. If you haven’t listened to the album, it might seem quite informative if you edit out the superlatives: Yoon Do Hyun, head and vocalist of the K-pop formation Yoon Do … [Read More]
Jeju, the love island
We all knew that Cheju-do was a holiday destination for honeymooners. What I didn’t know until Thursday’s feature in Der Spiegel was that there’s an informative theme park for honeymooners to get some inspiration. There’s some great pictures, one of which is shown left. The theme park has been around for a while. Here’s a … [Read More]
DPRK – Portrait of a Patriot and other recent insight
Before I blockquote an excellent feature from the CanKor service, here’s a link to a recent article in Asia Media: The inevitable collapse of the old North Korea?, which is inspired by an important study by Andrei Lankov in the inaugural issue of Asia Policy, entitled The Natural Death of North Korean Stalinism. And here’s … [Read More]
Standard Chartered steers clear, UBS plunges in
As reported by the FT earlier this week, Standard Chartered have decided not to pursue their interest in LG Cards any further. Given the increasing number of households in Korea who can’t make ends meet, this is surely a prudent step: according to the Korea Times, spending exceeds income for 28 percent of households. The … [Read More]
July site statistics update
I thought I’d summarise some of my blog statistics for July. My main source of hits was, as ever, google. What would we do without it? Thanks, though, to Alice, Max, Jenny, Aidan and Jase for voluntarily providing links to me. The hit rate is as follows: Alice 33 Max 18 Jenny 5 Aidan 4 … [Read More]
Ballads dominate K-pop albums in 2006
I keep an occasional eye on what’s top of the music charts. I’ve been noticing that one or two of the album’s I’ve bought have been appearing there. Whether it’s because I’m at the cutting edge of K-pop I somehow doubt. I just tend to buy the things I come across in the blogosphere because … [Read More]
Korean Christians in Afghanistan
Every now and then I notice a story which has probably been bubbling away for a while in the background but which then suddenly grabs my attention by chance. One such has been the Korean Christian missionaries in Afghanistan. A couple of google searches reveals the significant missionary activities of the Korean churches, particularly in … [Read More]
Baek Ji-young: Smile again
It shouldn’t take six playthroughs to enable me to say anything constructive about this album. On first playthrough it made no impression on me whatsoever. Some generic ballad / R&B songs which could come from any of a wide range of Korean artists, and some songs with a Flamenco / Latin beat. Some of the … [Read More]
Seoul the most expensive city after Moscow
A story from the Chosun Ilbo from a few weeks ago. I know from experience (the paying end, rather than the receiving end, more’s the pity) that expat employees are a good deal more expensive than locals. It’s all the additional perks. Who knows, maybe some of the costs which make Moscow top of the … [Read More]
DPRK propaganda films
As promised yesterday. Thanks to Tom Coyner for circulating this link. Enjoy. Left: another of those excellent Russian holiday snaps from yesterday’s post. Update 8 Sept 2019: The above link no longer works, as the website no longer exists. I have checked the page in the web archive for the URLs of the underlying YouTube … [Read More]
Holiday snaps from the DPRK
Tom Coyner has delivered another gem of an email to his readership: a link to a great collection of new photographs of North Korea, apparently taken by a young Russian tourist couple very recently. An example is shown left. Visit http://www.fishmonger.ru/06-07-27/index.htm for the full set. Aidan Foster-Carter provides additional commentary. Unfortunately the description of the … [Read More]
August events 2006
This month’s events are: The open air Korean festival on the Fairfield which I’m told is near Kingston station. I believe it’s on 12 August. The only details I have are gleaned from running the Korean Residents Society’s events page through the google translator. The mangled prose which emerges for August is Korean banking (Korean … [Read More]
Kim Youngna: 20th Century Korean Art
(Lawrence King, 2005) A collection of articles, turned into a book. As I’m neither an art critic nor an art historian I’m going to restrict myself to a chapter-by-chapter summary of the ground covered. A useful overview of colonial period art. Highlights the difficulty of studying & researching the art history of the period, in … [Read More]
Dae Jang Geum campaign gathers momentum …
…but still needs your support. A couple of months ago I put up a notice on my old site encouraging you to visit Alice Bennell’s blog and join her campaign to get the BBC to buy Dae Jang Geum — Jewel in the Palace — for showing on British TV. Since then Alice has been … [Read More]