Foreign hanok defenders battle obliteration of Seoul’s architectural heritage. Andrew Salmon writes for Yonhap on David Kilburn and Peter Bartholomew (above). http://bit.ly/97IhMI Also echoed in the Joongang Ilbo. #. I’ve been trying to arrange for David Kilburn to give a talk on preservation at the KCC in London, but I think the whole thing is … [Read More]
Category: Foreigners in Korea (page 3)
Breen under pressure from Samsung
Which is more likely to make me stop buying Samsung products: an irreverent article by a British writer, or Samsung's heavy-handed response? http://bit.ly/cWnWfy # Update 13 May 2010: Samsung backs off from the civil suit, but Mike Breen still faces criminal charges [Read More]
Mad Cow scare prevents blood donations
Korea Times says Brits can’t donate blood to save a Korean with cancer because we’ve got mad cow disease http://bit.ly/dqku2r # [Read More]
Heritage, Human Rights, & Hanoks
MUST READ: David Kilburn's scathing critique of Seoul's conservation record, in a talk given at the National Human Rights Committee Study Centre: Heritage, Human Rights, & Hanoks http://bit.ly/9Eff2D #. Here’s a sample: Since 1976, the Seoul Government has claimed it has policies to preserve the hanoks of Bukchon. Yet the simple fact is that the … [Read More]
FTA brings new opportunities for British companies in Korea
Monday 15th March 2010 was the first public UK speech of the new ambassador Choo Kyu Ho, which he made before 150 business people at the launch of the UKTI report “South Korea Open for Business – 100 Opportunities for UK Companies in South Korea following the EU–South Korea Free Trade Agreement.” The agreement, though … [Read More]
HSBC boss cooks doenjang jjiage
HSBC Korea boss Matthew Deakin makes a mean doenjang jjigae, says the JoongAng Daily http://bit.ly/boNfCn # “I play golf most weekends, and before tee off, I usually prefer having a Korean breakfast – rice with soup. It is very filling,” he said. “And among the various types of soup here, doenjang jjigae is my favorite. … [Read More]
The world’s first jail for foreigners
If you’re going to get locked up in a foreign country, Korea doesn’t seem such a bad place to get jailed: a new facility in Cheonan, Chungcheongnam-do, has Korean etiquette classes, Korean language classes, and satellite TV in your own language. Source: JoongAng Ilbo # [Read More]
Foreigners find iPhones hard to get
First it was credit cards, now it’s iPhones: Foreigners in Korea are denied those necessities in life (HT: Marmot) http://bit.ly/4CT9Gh. 10:40 PM Jan 4th from bit.ly [Read More]
Looking at Korea through a glass sphere
British photographer (and English teacher in Korea) Simon Bond sees Korea through a glass sphere – a nice article in the Daily Telegraph http://bit.ly/3NW0oi # Simon Bond’s websites: on Flickr | 369photography.co.uk (where you can buy his work). [Read More]
The British fighter pilot buried near Pyongyang
Michael Rank in the Asia Times on the British fighter pilot buried near Pyongyang. Well worth a read. http://bit.ly/1Os32 # There can be no lonelier grave anywhere on Earth. Amid fields close to the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, lie the remains of Flight Lieutenant Desmond Hinton, a British fighter pilot who flew for the United … [Read More]
Ernest Bethell in Korea
The ambassador’s blog reminds us that it is 100 years since the death of Ernest T Bethell, “a name all but unknown in his homeland”. Bethell merits half a page in Don Clark’s Living Dangerously in Korea – the Western Experience 1900-1950, but occupies the first (very brief) chapter in Don Kirk and Choe Sang-hun’s … [Read More]
The ambassador’s blog
In honour of the Four Ambassadors evening next week, I’ve recently introduced a section into the sidebar called The Ambassador’s Blog. In this section you can find the recent headlines from the blog maintained by the UK’s ambassador to Seoul, Martin Uden (right). Well worth a visit. He recently hosted his colleague north of the … [Read More]
Candle Night exhibition in Kilburn Art Space
A couple of years ago tea-merchant David Kilburn appeared in the Korea Times: he had organised a mini arts festival in Bukchon hanok village in Seoul – where he lives in one of the last few remaining unspoilt hanoks. The festival had artistic aims – “to place traditional performances in the intimate traditional setting of … [Read More]
100 years of the Salvation Army in Korea
By Michael Rank London isn’t exactly full of reminders of Korea, so I was surprised to discover in Abney Park Cemetery, Stoke Newington, a newly placed plaque in memory of the man who brought the Salvation Army to Korea. The black marble plaque describes in English and Korean how “With Marching Orders from [Salvation Army … [Read More]
Kickin’ it in Gumcheon
A fun video recently posted to YouTube. As Michael Aronson says in the comment section, “Great lyrics that approach it from a foreigner’s POV without being ignorant.” Available from Amazon and iTunes. [Read More]
History of scapegoating English teachers
English language teachers are never out of the press for long. Most recently there’s the Canadian paedophile who was teaching in Korea, and then a fairly familiar story about teachers being busted for smoking cannabis. The thing that struck me most about the cannabis story is the price. I knew that English teaching in Korea … [Read More]