Browsing through the Asia House programme for the upcoming couple of months I saw this encouraging double-page teaser. After the appearance of Changrae Lee at the Asia House Festival of Asian Literature in 2010, they dropped Korea from their 2011 schedule. So at the end of 2011 I wrote to them to suggest a couple … [Read More]
LKL articles by Philip Gowman (page 98)
No Artificial Flavour: an upcoming online gallery for Korean artists and designers
At LKL we hadn’t realised, until Hanmi Gallery drew our attention to it in December, that the vitality of the London Korean art scene had been dealt a damaging blow by the closure of the Tier 1 (Post-study work) Visa to new applicants from 6 April 2012, which pretty much means that overseas students have … [Read More]
Ramyun and the Dons: AFC Wimbledon announces Nongshim Noodle deal
Noodle soup while watching the footie? Sounds great: AFC Wimbledon are pleased to announce the launch of a new commercial partnership with Nongshim, South Korea’s number one noodle manufacturer. The deal, which will run until the end of the season, will see the chance for Nongshim products to be sampled at the Cherry Red Records … [Read More]
You followed the blog, now buy the book
You’ll probably have visited Kim Jong Il Looking at Things once in a while for some gentle entertainment at the expense of the late Dear Leader and his propaganda unit. The blog closed in December 2012, a year after his death, but now you can buy the book, from Jean Boîte Éditions, price EUR24 plus … [Read More]
Yonhap feature on living in New Malden
Very interesting feature on the Koreans of New Malden, by Niels Footman of Yonhap. Two contrasting quotes set the scene: Two years ago, at a meeting of the Kingston Racial Equality Council … the incumbent member of parliament Ed Davey said that because much of the Korean population is transitory, “they feel less of a … [Read More]
LKL 2012 Quiz of the Year — the answers
The answers to LKL’s 2012 Quiz of the Year. How many did you get? 1 The Watermelon Economy It was Lee Seung-han, the boss of Tesco in Korea, who accused Lee Myung-bak of running a watermelon economy: on the outside, lots of rhetoric about “green” growth, but actually red on the inside. “Not even communist … [Read More]
Some fun with the Time Person of the Year 2012
Some meaningless statistics for you. According to Time Magazine’s readers, Kim Jong Un is 55 times more popular than the Mars Rover, 56 times more popular than Psy, and 77 times more popular than the Higgs Boson. [Read More]
Alexander Liebreich’s musical diplomacy in Pyongyang
Great BBC feature on Alexander Liebreich and his musical diplomacy with the Munich Chamber Orchestra in Pyongyang. http://bbc.in/100eliE. A briefer feature can be found on iPlayer here. LKL interviewed him in Tongyeong in 2012 when we visited the Tongyeong International Music Festival, of which he is artistic director. And a one-hour long documentary about his … [Read More]
Kim Jr completes power station that was the death of his father
It’s interesting that Kim Jong Un’s New Year Speech contains reference to the completion of the Huichon Power Station – the very project that is said to have caused the death of Kim Jong Il when it was discovered to have been botched. [Read More]
January events 2013
Happy New Year to all LKL’s readers. 2012 was a hectic year, and many of us are still recovering. Some of the details of this month’s events are sketchy at the time of writing, but watch out for things commemorating the 5th anniversary of the opening of the KCC, at the end of this month. … [Read More]
Jiseul – a film to watch out for in 2013
It won awards at Busan where it premiered in the 2012 festival, and it will be showing at Sundance and Rotterdam: Jiseul (지슬) – a sombre film about the 1948 Jeju Uprising, written and directed by Jeju resident O Muel (오멸). It might not be an easy film to watch, but it’s an important part … [Read More]
Song Hae-sung: A Better Tomorrow – not worth the time
I have a huge admiration for Alua at Otherwhere and Colette at Oriental Nightmares for dedicating the time and energy to writing reviews of Song Hae-seong’s remake of the classic A Better Tomorrow. I only had the enthusiasm to stay for the first half hour (which I found confusing and uninteresting) before deciding my time … [Read More]
Kim Jong Un’s 2013 New Year Address
The following is the full text of Kim Jong Un’s New Year Address. As in previous years, we have provided links to the Joint Declarations where these are mentioned in the speech. Dear comrades, Officers and men of the heroic People’s Army and all the beloved fellow countrymen, Dear compatriots, Having seen out the year … [Read More]
The London Korean Links Awards 2012
The seventh eclectic and highly personal commemoration of the best of the past year. Personality of the Year Runner up There were plenty of personalities in the South Korean Olympic team, particularly the pistol shooters, archers and the gymnasts. But the athlete that everyone will remember is fencer Shin A-lam, cheated out of a place … [Read More]
KCC calls for curatorial proposals for 2013 group exhibitions
A new initiative for two group shows at the KCC in 2013: 2013 Open Call for Curatorial Proposals The Korean Cultural Centre UK (KCCUK) invites individual or collective curators to submit an exhibition proposal for a 6-week show of visual art in our exhibition space in central London. Two successful proposals – one proposal by … [Read More]
The Guardian goes to Gangnam
The Guardian gets rewarded for its K-pop coverage with a free trip to Seoul – though they feel obliged to spend most of their time in Gangnam covering the K-pop businsess in the resulting travel article. But there are a couple of interesting quotes which sum up the way many people get into Korean culture: … [Read More]