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 … [Read More]
Category: 2014 year-end posts
Looking back at 2014: DPRK and regional news
In our third review of 2014, we look at some of the North Korea related news, and stories which put the peninsula in a wider East Asian context. Domestic news Kim Jong Un’s disappearance from public view in the Autumn prompted speculation ranging from a case of gout to a “very specific kind of coup”. … [Read More]
Looking back at 2014: Entertainment news
In the second of four retrospective articles, we recall some of the entertainment stories that caught our eye in 2014. Good year for: Popular TV drama My Love from the Star had an impact beyond its 21 episode span. The lead female character, played by Jeon Ji-hyun, managed to boost sales of trenchcoats in Korea, … [Read More]
Looking back at 2014: Culture, sport and tourism
In the first of four articles looking back over 2014, we recall some of the culture, sports and heritage stories that made the news. Arts Dansaekhwa emerged as flavour of the year. Following the MMCA exhibition in 2013 and Joan Kee’s book, Kukje Gallery had a monochrome retrospective, and dansaekhwa artists were included in MMCA … [Read More]
A comprehensive list of DPRK slogans
In case you ever feel short of inspiring slogans, the WPK Central Committee and Central Military Commission has just published a list of 349 of them. Here’s an example (#344): The revolutionary spirit of Paektu, the spirit of the blizzards of Paektu and the anti-Japanese revolutionary forerunners’ call to keep the revolutionary faith even if … [Read More]
A review of the London Korean Year 2014
2014 was billed as the year of Korean literature, and it lived up to expectations. A number of programmes were geared towards spotlighting Korean literature, central to which was the London Book Fair, where Korea was the Market Focus for the year in an ongoing initiative coordinated by the British Council. The Book Fair itself … [Read More]
The London Korean Links Awards 2014
Our regular unscientific seasonal post which recognises some of the people, books, films and events which made 2014 an outstanding year. Personality of the Year This year there seem to have been more anti-heroes than heroes – examples to avoid rather than emulate. Villains we loved to hate this year have included the reclusive photographer, … [Read More]
Kim Jong Un’s 2015 New Year address
Here is the full text of Kim Jong Un’s 2015 New Year address, kindly provided by the DPRK embassy in London. Kim Jong Un, first secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea, first chairman of the National Defence Commission of the DPRK and supreme commander of the Korean People’s Army, made a New Year address … [Read More]
President Park’s 2015 New Year Message
Here is the text of President Park Geun-hye’s 2015 New Year Message, sourced from the Blue House website. Fellow Koreans, New year 2015, the Year of the Sheep, has dawned. I hope all your dreams and hopes will come true throughout the year. This historic year marks the 70th anniversary of liberation and, at the … [Read More]
Season’s Greetings to all our readers
Best wishes for Christmas and the New Year to all of LKL’s readers, friends and contributors. Have a peaceful break. For this year’s holiday season we commissioned a special London Korean winter design from the wonderful Jieun Kim aka The Drawing Hand. We are delighted with the results, so we’re sharing it with you here. … [Read More]