Bella Frey, who recently reviewed The Return – the closing film of LKFF 2018 – tells us about her own personal return earlier this year. A tale of the unexpected… My head is still swimming from my recent trip to Korea. It was in part planned to be a personal pilgrimage to re-visit places from … [Read More]
LKL articles by Bella Frey
Festival Film Review: The Return
I was as delighted as I was surprised when I saw that the London Korean Film Festival had selected The Return for its closing gala screening. The huge numbers of overseas adoptions from Korea is often a sidelined subject and understandably wouldn’t be a natural choice when showcasing Korean culture and arts. But the 2018 … [Read More]
Cosy Korean Cooking with Kie-jo
For over a decade now our little group of UK based Korean adoptees have hoped that we could find someone to teach us how to make our favourite Korean dishes. We love meeting up and eating at our generously sponsored lunches but in the weeks between our lunches, and if we can’t make it that … [Read More]
Book review: Shin Kyung-sook — Please look after Mother
Kyung-sook Shin: Please look after Mother Originally published in Korean as 엄마를 부탁해, 2008 Translated by Chi-Young Kim Weidenfeld & Nicolson 2011, 272pp Can we ever really appreciate who we have in our lives until they are gone? Kyung-Sook Shin’s Please look after Mother looks through the eyes of a family united in trying to … [Read More]
Victoria gets Korean
Yesterday I had a spot of luck. I was venturing into central London via my usual train terminus, London Victoria and whilst negotiating my way around the busy junction where Vauxhall bridge road meets Victoria Street when I spotted something rather interesting, a new Korean eatery. I may have a sixth sense when it comes … [Read More]
New Year Beats
Bella Frey bangs the drum for some exciting classes. Since the first time I went back to Korea and was treated to a performance of a Samulnori percussion group performance, I have wanted to try to play one or all of the four instruments, particularly the drums. I was blown away by the energy, fun … [Read More]
Rain Rain, Come Again
Bella Frey gets star-struck. And who can blame her? Rain in London in January, nothing unusual there. However Rain, as in Jung Ji-hoon, South Korea’s delightfully handsome mega pop star and actor, in London is definitely a once in a blue moon event. As soon as the news hit Facebook that he would be here … [Read More]
A Special Global Community
Bella Frey talks about life as a Korean adoptee in England. It was in the 1950’s when the first babies were adopted to the United States from a war torn Korea. Many of them had been left orphaned and others abandoned. Since then hundreds of thousands of Korean babies and children have been adopted overseas … [Read More]
Kimchi Feeds My Soul
Korean food is one of my greatest loves, a love I felt I had always known but had yet to meet, like a soulmate. Adopted from Korea at a year old to Switzerland and then relocating to England aged four, I grew up in Southend, Essex. My Mum has lived much of her adult life … [Read More]