London Korean Links

Covering things Korean in London and beyond since 2006

Oh Kil-nam, double defector, on the BBC

Interesting interview with Oh Kil-nam on the BBC website. Oh defected from the South to the North with his family (partly at the persuasion of composer Yun Isang), realised his mistake and defected back – on his own. His wife and daughters (now known as the Daughters of Tongyeong) got sent to Yodok. You can … [Read More]

Hallyu Museum to open near Incheon Airpot

According to bridge bloggers AllKpop, who have translated a Korean article on Nate, a Hallyu Museum will be opening in the second half of 2012 near Incheon Airport to enable travellers to get a quick fix of their current bias or favourite TV actor. An interesting way of catering to the hallyu tourists. [Read More]

Affordable art at Mokspace

Running Boy’s cartoon-like embroidery and Kyungho Park’s colourful street art at Mokspace (near the British Museum) are bright, fun and very affordable. Pay the exhibition a visit http://bit.ly/HVqQ4P [Read More]

Fribourg Fest honours two K-films

Lee Chang-dong’s “Poetry” and Kim Tae-yong’s “Late Autumn” Lee Man-hee remake win awards at Fribourg Int’l Film Fest http://bit.ly/hHIAXU # “Poetry” won the top award, the Regard d’Or, while “Late Autumn” won the Special Mention of the Jury of the International Federation of Film Societies, and the Ex-Change Award, which is a prize selected by … [Read More]

LKL in the 경남도민일보 and JoongAng Ilbo

I accidentally got interviewed by a Gyeongnam newspaper in Sancheong. Not sure what the article says, but I hope I did OK for Sancheong County. The piece also ended up in the JoongAng Ilbo. Contents Introduction 12: Yun Isang’s music at TIMF 2012 1: Dansaekhwa – Korean Monochrome Painting at the Museum of Contemporary Art … [Read More]

National Pension Service to open London office

The Korean National Pension Service (NPS), one of the world’s biggest pension funds, is to set up a new base in London. The NPS announced the decision after a meeting between its chairman, Jun Kwang-woo, and the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, who is visiting Seoul for the Nuclear Security Summit. http://bit.ly/HBfyx3 [Read More]

Korea’s National Museum in top 10

The National Museum of Korea makes top ten most visited global art venue, according to The Art Newspaper (via the BBC) http://bbc.in/GOytcN. The same article gives a special mention to the National Folk Museum of Korea in the grounds of the Gyeongbokgung for four exhibitions attracting more than 9,000 visitors a day. [Read More]