Organised by the SOAS Centre of Taiwan Studies, but of interest to Koreanists: Gender and Politics in Northeast Asia: Legislative Patterns of Female Legislators in Korea and Taiwan 5 December 2018, 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm SOAS, Russell Square, College Buildings, Room 4426 Abstract Drawing insights from the literature on the effect of gender on […]
Category: Politics
Assessing the Moon Administration One Year On
It’s a while since Chatham House did a session on South Korea, and the timing for this couldn’t be better. Assessing the Moon Administration One Year On 13 June 2018 – 1:15pm to 5:45pm Chatham House | 10 St James’s Square | London SW1Y 4LE Participants Victor Cha, Senior Adviser and Korea Chair, Center for […]
Film review double bill: Bamseom Pirates and Criminal Conspiracy
This weekend gave us the opportunity to watch two very different documentaries which cast their critical eye over contemporary Korean society and recent political history. Part of the fascination of both of them for UK-based Korea-watchers is the way they resonate: they provide, in the one case, a laser-like dissection of an issue of which […]
Screening: Criminal Conspiracy
News of a free documentary screenings courtesy of the Birkbeck International Documentary Society: Criminal Conspiracy 공범자들 Dir: Choi Seung-ho (2017, 105 mins) Birkbeck Cinema | 43 Gordon Square | London WC1H 0PD 7 October 2pm | Event’s Facebook page During the Lee Myung-Bak presidency Public Broadcasting in South Korea came under heavy government control and […]
Update: upcoming Frontline Club discussion no longer about PGH’s impeachment
Update: this event has now been changed to be a documentary screening and discussion about the South Korean TV show Now on my way to meet you. The below text is retained for archival purposes but is no longer relevant. Asia in Realignment: The Impeachment of Park Geun-hye Frontline Club | 13 Norfolk Place | […]
Mayor Park on Citizen Democracy in the Republic of Korea
During his visit to London next week Seoul’s Mayor will find time for a talk at Chatham House: Citizen Democracy in the Republic of Korea 3 April 2017 – 10:00am to 11:00am Wonsoon Park, Mayor of Seoul Chair: John Nilsson-Wright, Senior Research Fellow, Asia Programme, Chatham House Following the impeachment of South Korean President Park […]
Choigate and Park Geun-hye’s censorship of the arts – contd
A couple more links relating to censorship under Park Geun-hye, which will be updated as news breaks. First, a re-post of the pdf purporting to be the blacklist of 9,473 names, first posted here. 10 Jan 2017: Via Br Anthony comes the “appalling news … that [Park] personally gave orders that the two most important […]
Choigate, censorship and the arts
At any other time the presence of a demonstrator outside the KCC – and outside the opening screening of the London Korean Film Festival – protesting about artistic censorship that is said to have taken place during the current KCC director’s stint at the National Gugak Centre would have been prominent news. But choreographer Jung […]
Event news: King’s College London Contemporary Korea Speaker Series
The London Asia Pacific Centre will be hosting the Contemporary Korea Speaker Series in October-November 2016. Thanks to funding provided by The Academy of Korean Studies, the series will bring to London four top Korean professors to discuss contemporary Korean economics, politics and society. The talks are as follows: 13 October 2016 – Prof Kim […]
Event news: Remembering Dictators – The Politics of Bronze Statues in South Korea and Taiwan
Thanks to Colin Bartlett for forwarding me details of a seminar at SOAS’s main building this evening, hosted by their Centre of Taiwan Studies: Remembering Dictators: The Politics of Bronze Statues in South Korea and Taiwan Speaker: Prof Huang Chang-Ling Date: 22 June 2016, 5:00 – 7:00 pm Venue: Russell Square: College Buildings Room: KLT […]
Looking back at 2014: Domestic news
Our final look back at 2014: mainly domestic news stories from South Korea: The Sewol and safety culture The MV Sewol capsized on 16 April, causing the death of 304 passengers. A number of factors contributed to the disaster, including lax safety inspections, unsafe modifications, unsecured cargo, overloading, and an inexperienced crew hired on temporary […]
Korea’s Economy in Transition – a report from the recent evening at Asia House
Sometimes, when you go along to an evening talk, you are looking forward to the networking rather than the substance of what the speakers will be saying. Perhaps you think you won’t learn much, and you’re going along out of a vague sense of duty, because other people will expect you to be there. Well, […]
Hong Seong-dam’s art in the news again
In 2012 his unflattering painting of President-elect Park got the ruling party annoyed; now Hong Seong-nam is in the news again for lampooning Park’s response to the Sewol disaster in an exhibition linked to the Gwangju Biennale. It’s difficult to know precisely what has been going on in Gwangju from the snippets that make it […]
Looking back at 2013: Domestic news
Our final look back at 2013, including a random collection of news stories, mainly domestic, that caught our attention. In the news Asiana Airlines flight 214 from Incheon crashed on landing at San Francisco airport on 6 July. The Boeing 777 had approached the runway too low and too slow. An American local TV station […]
Looking back at 2012: Domestic news
In our final round-up of Korea-related stories which caught our eye in 2012, we look at domestic and business news. Modern Life and how to escape it. Korea came 24th out of 34 leading countries in an OECD quality of life index, coming bottom of the class in job security and gender income inequality and […]
The presidential election: a fascinating race (part 3)
We’ve rounded the last bend and are into the final stretch of this ‘Fascinating Race’. On 19th December, South Korean voters will elect a new president to the Blue House. Here is what has been happening since part 2. Independent no more First came the stepping down of Ahn Cheol-soo. On November 23rd, in an […]
The presidential election: a fascinating race (part 2)
The fascinating race continues! The latest news from the South Korean presidential election campaign is the potential alliance between the liberal Democratic United Party candidate, Moon Jae-in, and independent candidate Ahn Cheol-soo. This joining of forces would pose a serious threat to conservative candidate Park Geun-hye, who has led in the polls for some time. […]