The (London) Times reminds us that in a country which is alleged to rely on illegitimate foreign exchange earnings, the effectiveness of sanctions against legitimate trade is not going to hurt much. The North Korean military and ruling elite have held off political collapse in the years since the end of the Cold War thanks … [Read More]
Category: Gallery (page 11)
Brief review: Baudeogi at the Bloomsbury
Another entertaining evening from Think Korea. As the year progresses, the sponsors are learning about how best to introduce their wonderful shows to a western audience. This time, there was a glossy programme which set out some of the background to what we were about to see, which was helpful. There was also some useful … [Read More]
Some good pictures
Firstly, some photos from 1970s Seoul. Commentary on Antti Leppänen’s site here and here. Antti’s site has a number of good posts with photos. All his photography posts can be found collected together on this del.icio.us page. Enjoy at your leisure. Also, some images from the Korean war, courtesy of the Chosun. And finally, something … [Read More]
Priceless
A picture to gladden the heart. I assume, based on the swords being carried (presumably not standard contemporary battlefield issue) that this is a photo of a rehearsal for a public performance. Thanks as ever to Tom Coyner for this treasure. And another, unrelated, bizarre item from the North, from Der Spiegel: this coming weekend … [Read More]
Jeju, the love island
We all knew that Cheju-do was a holiday destination for honeymooners. What I didn’t know until Thursday’s feature in Der Spiegel was that there’s an informative theme park for honeymooners to get some inspiration. There’s some great pictures, one of which is shown left. The theme park has been around for a while. Here’s a … [Read More]
DPRK propaganda films
As promised yesterday. Thanks to Tom Coyner for circulating this link. Enjoy. Left: another of those excellent Russian holiday snaps from yesterday’s post. Update 8 Sept 2019: The above link no longer works, as the website no longer exists. I have checked the page in the web archive for the URLs of the underlying YouTube … [Read More]
Holiday snaps from the DPRK
Tom Coyner has delivered another gem of an email to his readership: a link to a great collection of new photographs of North Korea, apparently taken by a young Russian tourist couple very recently. An example is shown left. Visit http://www.fishmonger.ru/06-07-27/index.htm for the full set. Aidan Foster-Carter provides additional commentary. Unfortunately the description of the … [Read More]
Dulsori evening class # 5: the performance
If anything was going to go wrong, it was going to be the Hwimori. The others were easy: at most four lines, each one the same length, and played once before moving on to the next; and the cycle was repeated several times so that there was no way you were going to forget it. … [Read More]
Photos of Danoje: springtime rites at the Bloomsbury
After my lacklustre snaps of Lee Soo Young at the Fairfield Hall on May 1st, I thought it was time I entered the 21st century, and persuaded Louise that we needed a pocket digital camera for my birthday. Last night was its first outing in the service of this site. In case anyone’s interested, they … [Read More]
The world’s biggest bibimbap?
From the Chosun Ilbo: Students make Korean traditional dish bibimbap, an assortment of vegetables and rice, for 1,000 people during a spring festival at Ewha Womans University, which marked its 120th anniversary on Wednesday. [Read More]
Korean driving
Anyone who has been in a taxi in Busan will understand completely how Korea can be second in the OECD car accident rankings. (The mystery is: why only second, and how come there are any cars left on the road?) It must be something in the blood. Thanks to Tom Coyner for circulating this image … [Read More]
Football fever grips Seoul
With the world cup kicking off in Germany on 9 June, South Koreans are hoping for a repeat of their 2002 success: An image from the BBC’s website (above) and one from the Chosun Ilbo (below). [Read More]
Amazing photos of early 20th century Korea
I paste below the text of an email just received from the curator of the Korean Heritage Library at the University of Southern California. Well worth a look. I am pleased to announce the publication of some RARE images of Korea on the Korean Heritage Library’s Website. The most complete captions currently available for these … [Read More]
Memories of Mokseokwon
Fond memories of a visit to Mokseokwon (목석원) sculpture park in Chejudo. I was lucky enough to be introduced to Baek Un-Ch’ol, who has masterminded the park. The main exhibits in the park are interesting pieces of driftwood, which Mr Baek has spent a lifetime collecting. He could earn a fortune by flogging them off … [Read More]