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The boring stuff I’ve been working on during August

by Philip Gowman on 27 August, 2017

in About LKL, Geek stuff

It’s August. The office isn’t as busy as usual. My brain isn’t being used as much as it normally is, and it needs to find an outlet. So it’s the month when, if there are things that need doing to the design or coding of the website, I turn my mind to it. The last […]

Korean culture gets more mainstream (and what it means for LKL)

by Philip Gowman 31 July 2017

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A week or so ago Time Out, London’s leading event listings magazine, asked its readers to recommend their favourite Korean places in London and New Malden. I passed it on to the LKL Facebook Group without giving it much further thought, vaguely interested that the survey was in progress, interested also in the knowledgeable responses […]

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2017 travel diary – reminiscences

by Philip Gowman 21 May 2017

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This year, I’m not doing a detailed hour-by-hour account of my trip. That’s not because I didn’t have much to report. It’s just that I decided only to focus on the bits which merit standalone articles. After all, you don’t particularly want to know what I had for lunch every day, or who my dinner […]

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Beth McKillop reports from the 2016 Culture Communication Forum in Seoul

by Beth McKillop 12 September 2016

Senior Research Fellow and former Deputy Director at the Victoria and Albert Museum Beth McKillop was the UK’s representative at Korea’s annual Culture Communication Forum hosted by the Corea Image Communication Institute. Since 1990 when I first visited Korea to collect ceramics, outfits and furniture for a planned Victoria and Albert Museum Korea gallery, I’ve […]

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Kang Ik-joong’s Floating Dreams installed on the Thames

by Philip Gowman 30 August 2016

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For one reason or another, today at the office I had my eyes glued to my PC screen most of the day. I didn’t have much time to enjoy the view from my window, from where I can see the Thames around the Greenwich peninsula. Which meant that I managed to miss one of the […]

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LKL at 10 years: a decade in statistics

by Philip Gowman 4 March 2016

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In the early years of this website, I was rather obsessed with readership statistics. It was gratifying to see the readership grow, and it was informative to see what it was they were visiting the site for. After a while, I found that nothing much was changing. And I realised that if I were to […]

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LKL at 10 years: what has changed?

by Philip Gowman 29 February 2016

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London Korean Links went online 10 years ago, on 1 March 2006. What has changed over that time, and how might things change over the next 10 years? For a start, there’s more of everything. More people following Korean culture in London, more events to follow. When London Korean Links started, it was a reasonable […]

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LKL at 10 years: the frequently asked questions

by Philip Gowman 28 February 2016

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LKL has been online for 10 years, and during that period I have been asked the same questions a number of times. Here are many of those questions, and the answers. Jeon Sung-min of the Euro Journal asked many of them back in 2008, and the answers haven’t changed much since then, but there are […]

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Roger Law’s Art and Seoul on Radio 4 this week

by Philip Gowman 22 December 2015

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A couple of months ago I spent an hour in a BBC studio with ceramic artist Roger Law (whom many UK readers will remember as one half of the Spitting Image team). The subject – Korea. Roger Law had already done a well-received quirky radio series on China and this was to be his Korean […]

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Caught on the plane: Twenty and Memories of the Sword

by Philip Gowman 13 December 2015

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I always look forward to long-haul flights as an opportunity to catch up on all the movies I should have been watching over the past year. And having just returned from an ultra-long-haul holiday, I can heartily recommend Singapore Airlines in-flight entertainment. My only complaint is that there was too much to watch: if the […]

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A lunchtime of ceramics and an evening of awesomeness

by Philip Gowman 5 November 2015

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I wish the lunch break had been longer at today’s Korean film conference at SOAS. I was planning on having a quick snack at Mr Mok’s Bibimbap Cafe in Museum Street, maybe say a brief hello to my friends at It’s All Greek a few doors away, and then look in at the British Museum’s […]

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Please close your eyes and block your ears during the brief documentary on 2 Nov

by Philip Gowman 17 October 2015

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For all the wrong reasons, I’m not looking forward to the opening gala of this year’s London Korean Film Festival as much as I ought to be. Of course, I’m really looking forward to the actual movie itself. Ode to My Father has been a much-talked-about film, with admissions of over 14.25 million at the […]

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2014 Travel Diary day 11: The most expensive breakfast ever

by Philip Gowman 16 June 2014

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The return home, with thanks to all who made the trip special. Eulji-ro, Seoul, Monday 16 June, 8am. My last morning in Seoul, and I was seriously hung over. I had arranged to meet the Seoul bureau chief of my favourite newspaper for breakfast: he had suggested that we meet at my hotel, not far from […]

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2014 Travel Diary day 3: 사십구재

by Philip Gowman 8 June 2014

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The 49th-day ceremony (사십구재) for Sena Lee, who died in Seoul on 22 April 2014, held at Anjeoksa, Sancheon-gun, at which family and friends said farewell to her. According to dharma master Tim Lerch, Traditionally, the period of 49 days after someone dies is seen as a time for that person to check their consciousness and digest their […]

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RIP Sena Lee

by Philip Gowman 29 April 2014

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Many LKL readers will remember Dr Sena Lee, the Traditional Korean Medicine doctor, and LKL’s medical correspondent. She was in London for three years taking a PhD in western medicine to add to her Korean qualifications. Her articles for LKL can be found here. During her time in London she was a great ambassador for […]

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No-one’s in the mood for celebrating

by Philip Gowman 23 April 2014

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In a brief article two days ago, Variety noted the impact of the Sewol ferry disaster on the Korean box office, on TV schedules, and on pop concerts. No one is in the mood for enjoying themselves right now. Not that such an injunction is needed, but I hear that government officials and diplomatic staff […]

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How to organise and accommodate an ever-growing library?

by Philip Gowman 9 February 2014

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When I started this Korean lark over 10 years ago, obviously I didn’t have any books on the subject. Over the years, the collection has been piling up, literally. Translated literature; novels in English by Koreans and by foreigners about Korea; the regrettably necessary section on North Korea; books on Korean art, history, film, music, […]

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