London Korean Links

Covering things Korean in London and beyond since 2006

Alexander Liebreich’s musical diplomacy in Pyongyang

Great BBC feature on Alexander Liebreich and his musical diplomacy with the Munich Chamber Orchestra in Pyongyang. http://bbc.in/100eliE. A briefer feature can be found on iPlayer here. LKL interviewed him in Tongyeong in 2012 when we visited the Tongyeong International Music Festival, of which he is artistic director. And a one-hour long documentary about his … [Read More]

Seasons Greetings, and enjoy our favourite seasonal tune: “Christmas Snowing” from Yell Owe Jam

Best wishes to all LKL’s readers, contributors and supporters, and thanks for staying with us over the past twelve months. We’ll be taking a break for a couple of days. Until we return, please enjoy this lovely Chritmas song from Yell Owe Jam, with vocalist Yedda (aobve left) and saxophonist Kim Heecheol. Thanks to our … [Read More]

The Defector: Escape from North Korea — a new documentary to screen at IDFA Amsterdam

Last year the International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam featured the moving South Korean documentary Planet of Snail. This year the interest is north of the border, with a new documentary on North Korean defectors by award-winning film-maker Ann Shin. The Defector: Escape from North Korea Ann Shin, Canada, 2012, color, HDcam, 71′ THE DEFECTOR: … [Read More]

Choi Jeong-hwa: a summer on the South Bank

The summer is over, and Chuseok approaches. The gay green baskets and balloons which adorned the drab concrete pillars beneath the Hayward Gallery and Queen Elizabth Hall during the Olympics period have been packed away. Here’s a reminder of what was there. Choi Jeong-hwa supervises the inflation of the spiral balloons for his installation Life-Life … [Read More]

Kkokdu – a cortege’s colourful attendants

Accompanying the KCC’s exhibition of Korean funerary figures, Charlotte Horlyck gave a helpful lecture providing some historical background and context to these colourful wooden characters. The talk was particularly valuable as the introduction provided by the director of the Kkokdu Museum a few weeks previously had lacked much content. While generally admitting that not much … [Read More]

How to get a Korean boyfriend

Many of you will have seen this already, but I only just came across it via Stephen Epstein’s and Rachel Joo’s fun article on Japanfocus.org on legs, abs, and the surprising de-emphasis of boobs in Korean pop culture. The entertaining video, from My Korean Boyfriend, is particularly fine in respect of its observation of “aegyo” … [Read More]

Monocle 24 broadcasts from Team Korea House

Live from Team Korea House, London, Monocle 24 hears from the CEO of the Korea Tourism Association, enjoys K-pop, and is joined by acupuncture expert Sena Lee. All to celebrate the Olympics. http://londonkoreanlinks.net/wp-content/uploads/audio/11000199.mp3 The K-pop interview is at 18’00” Sena is at 23’35” Philip is at 52’00” [Read More]