London Korean Links

Covering things Korean in London and beyond since 2006

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Selected publications by Jang Jin-sung

A look back at the books of 2015

In place of our annual “LKL Awards” post, we look at some of the highlights of 2015 in the area of books, film and music. Apart from the field of literature in translation (and of course I’m talking Han Kang here), there are no clear winners or I haven’t covered enough ground to choose one. … [Read More]

Commentary on The Interview

LKL has been an Interview-free zone, mainly for the reason that we always thought that the film was not a very good idea. But for the sake of pulling together in one place the links to the most interesting commentary on the film, the two best quotes, in the two most interesting articles, come from … [Read More]

“Jazz” in the DPRK: Autumn Whispers and the forbidden fruit of Richard Clayderman

I’ve just finished reading Jang Jin-sung’s memoir, Dear Leader. It’s a real page-turner that will appeal to many types of readers, including people who like a good adventure story (the passages describing Jang’s evasion of Chinese and North Korean security forces once he has fled from the North Korean capital are genuinely exciting) and of … [Read More]

Korean poets perform in London

As part of the South Bank Centre’s Poetry Parnassus, two Korean poets will be appearing later this month in London and elsewhere. The event, part of the Cultural Olympiad, is designed to bring together writers from every Olympic nation for the 2012 celebrations. Representing South Korea is Kim Hye-soon: Kim Hye-soon was one of the … [Read More]