Hands up, anyone who had actually heard of the Cairo Declaration before this SOAS conference designed to mark its 80th anniversary? I certainly hadn’t. Winston Churchill was in Cairo with a contingent of over 100 diplomatic and administrative staff, in late November 1943, where along with Chang Kai-shek and President Roosevelt they were starting to … [Read More]
Category: Colonial period
Conference: The Korean Independence Movement and the United Kingdom
To commemorate the 140th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Korea and the United Kingdom and the 80th anniversary of the Cairo Declaration, SOAS University of London and the National Memorial of the Korean Provisional Government are jointly holding this international academic conference. Scholars from Korea and the UK will gather to engage … [Read More]
Open rehearsal: What Are You Going To Do With Your One And Only Youth?
Based on the true story of Hoe-Young Lee, a Korean independence activist who fought against the Japanese colonial empire in the early 20th century, What Are You Going To Do With Your One And Only Youth is a rehearsed reading of a musical play. Performed by young English artists, British East and South East Asian … [Read More]
Japanese Nativism and Its Colonial Legacy
Thanks to 앤서방 for drawing this interesting-looking talk to our attention: Japanese Nativism and Its Colonial Legacy: Imagining Divine Origins of the Korean Writing System Cambridge University East Asia Seminar Speaker: Dr Nuri Kim Monday 7 February 2022 – 5:30pm via Zoom | Register to attend In this talk, Dr. Kim traces how Japanese nativist … [Read More]
Some interesting home-bound online reading for you
Before I get into the article proper, can I ask of you who are reading this: are you a member of the Royal Asiatic Society, Korea Branch? If not, why not? If you read LKL, you should should definitely join the RASKB, whether you happen to live in Korea or not. Why? For starters, you’ll … [Read More]
Some non-fiction titles we can’t wait to read in 2020 [updated]
![Thumbnail for post: Some non-fiction titles we can’t wait to read in 2020 [updated]](https://i0.wp.com/londonkoreanlinks.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/non-fiction.jpg?resize=120%2C120&ssl=1)
Outside of the wide range of upcoming literature and fiction titles, there’s plenty of non-fiction to look forward to as well. I’ve already highlighted three titles on Korean film which look worth exploring, and here’s the remainder of my 2020 reading longlist (which includes some titles from very late in 2019), split between (1) Books … [Read More]
Film Review: Love, Lies (Park Heung-sik, 2016)
An historic album made by a hitherto unknown Korean popular music singer from the colonial period is literally unearthed in a modern-day construction site. Miraculously, although the LP is damaged, audio engineers can restore the sound to something like the original, for broadcast on a golden oldies radio show. But who is the singer, and … [Read More]
Screening: Daily Bread + 50 Years of Silence
On UN International Eliminate Sexual Violence in Conflict Day, SOAS Korean Social and Environmental Justice Society will have a special film event celebrating Jan Ruff O’Herne, a survivor of Japanese military sexual slavery, and human rights campaigner. Jan was inspired in 1991 by the Korean grandmothers to tell her story – and to tell her … [Read More]
Screening: Daily Bread + 50 Years of Silence
Two films on the subject of a Dutch “Comfort Woman”. Daily Bread + 50 Years of Silence Arapina | 8 Little Thames Walk | London SE8 3FB 6pm, Wednesday 1 May 2019 Daily Bread Director: Ruby Challenger (Australia 2018, 15 mins, Dutch & Japanese with English subtitles. Historical drama) 50 Years of Silence Director: Ned … [Read More]
SOAS seminar: The Re-Organization of the Rural Economy in Modern Korea
The first, and possibly only, seminar of the new term: Empire by Association: The Re-Organization of the Rural Economy in Modern Korea, 1870-1945 Dr Holly Stephens (University of Edinburgh) Friday 26 April 2019, 5:15 – 7:00pm SOAS Brunei Gallery Room B104 | Registration required via SOAS website Abstract The late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries were a … [Read More]
Early Korean Cinema season at the BFI and KCC
Tickets for the Early Korean Cinema season at the BFI, which was announced as last year’s London korean Film festival came to an end, go on sale on 15 January. The organisers particularly direct our attention to two screenings: THU 7 FEB, 18:00 – OPENING SCREENING WITH LIVE PERFORMANCE + INTRO: Crossroads of Youth 청춘의 … [Read More]
BFI, KOFA and KCCUK announce archive exchange
Something to look forward to in February 2019: BFI, KOFA and KCCUK announce archive exchange to mark the centenary of the birth of Korean cinema More than ten of Korea’s oldest surviving films to screen to UK audiences for the first time in February 2019 at BFI Southbank and the KCCUK BFI restorations to show … [Read More]
November literature night: Mary Lynn Bracht’s White Chrysanthemum
A break from tradition this month. November’s book for discussion is a novel written in English, rather than one translated from the Korean. We’ll be there because we rather liked the book. White Chrysanthemum: A discussion with author Mary Lynn Bracht Wednesday 28 November, 19.00-21.00 Venue: Korean Cultural Centre UK Entrance Free – Booking Essential. … [Read More]
Book review: Mary Lynn Bracht — White Chrysanthemum
Mary Lynn Bracht: White Chrysanthemum Penguin Random House 2018, 320pp White Chrysanthemum, the debut novel from Mary Lynn Bracht, tells the story of two sisters, brought up on Jeju Island, who were tragically separated in the last years of the Second World War. The elder sister, Hana, is abducted into sexual slavery by a Japanese … [Read More]
New books for the summer
A couple of new books to take with you on your summer break – or, more likely in respect of the first on the list, to adorn your coffee table when you return. First, fulsomely reviewed by Andrew Salmon in Asia Times, comes Inside North Korea by The Guardian‘s architecture and design critic Oliver Wainwright … [Read More]
Brief review: Kim Ki-young – The Soil
I’m not sure quite how to assess Kim Ki-young’s adaptation of Yi Kwang-su’s 500-page serial novel The Soil (흙, 1932-3). At 125 minutes, it doesn’t sound particularly long. But as we got up from our seats at the KCC last Thursday at around 9:15pm, it felt much later – maybe around 10:30pm. And that wasn’t … [Read More]