I can’t help feeling that the Koreans have been taken for a bit of a ride with this Think Korea 2006 thing. I’d be interested to know for sure which government is investing more money in the programme, but I’d be willing to bet that it’s the Koreans. And let’s look at who’s getting what … [Read More]
Featured Posts - page 272
Korean marketing skills
Korea may be the most wired nation on earth (or is it the second-most?), but Koreans in London have yet to embrace new technology. As noted in previous rants, there has been absolutely nothing official on the web which gives any decent information on the Korean concert in Croydon on 1 May. Well, yesterday I … [Read More]
Never trust KBS. Ever.
Sorry to disappoint you (and myself), but the alleged concert by Lee Soo Young, SG Wannabe etc in London on 24 May is a figment of KBS’s fevered imagination. Trying to find anyone in London who knows anything about Lee Soo Young’s appearance at all is a huge struggle anyway (and details are STILL not … [Read More]
A little gripe about CD packaging
I’m turning into one of those grumpy old men who gets annoyed by the stupidest of things. A very trivial rant today prompted by the latest delivery from YesAsia (I’m mugging up in preparation for the K-pop concert which I hope is happening on 24 May but which no-one apart from KBS seems to know … [Read More]
Mixed marriages
As mentioned a few days ago, the appearance of Hines Ward in Korea recently provoked a certain amount of debate. As it happens, statistics published in the Korea Times say that 14% of Korean marriages in 2005 were international, while attitudes are getting more positive. However, there is a darker side to this — with … [Read More]
The cost of news
I thought I might investigate the cost of a subscription to the Yonhap News service. I’m a bit stingy when it comes to paying for things on the web, and would never consider paying for FT.com; but if it’s going to be cheap then I might consider it. So I shoot off an email to … [Read More]
Saying Sorry with cash
I haven’t been following the Hyundai Slush Fund story, but Hyundai hopes to have drawn a line under it with a $1bn charitable donation. Samsung apparently adopted a similar approach to the tune of $840mn last year. Lone Star, meanwhile, is making a $100mn donation as a goodwill gesture in relation to its KEB purchase … [Read More]
DPRK’s need for hard currency
Sorry, I’m a bit behind with some of the news stories. The BBC ran an interesting one a couple of days ago on the US$ supernotes and other ways of generating hard currency. The theme is picked up on in today’s DPRK embassy e-bulletin. [Read More]
DPRK e-bulletin 21 April 2006: superdollars
The DPRK’s London embassy speaks on the subject of Western accusations of drug-smuggling and currency counterfeiting: Pyongyang, April 19 (KCNA) — The people’s security institution in the DPRK tasked to protect by law the socialist system, the life and soul of its people, tightly holding the arms for state security, is following with a high … [Read More]
Campaign for better soaps on UK TV
In the past day or so I’ve had my first unsolicited visitors sending me email – and it’s not spam. Thanks for your kind comments, Alice and Dana. Alice is a lady on a mission. Her mission: a campaign to get the BBC to buy Jewel in the Palace and show it on British TV. … [Read More]
Bi / Rain to make it into Time top 100?
This one’s a story worth following, for the power of the Hallyu. According to the Chosun Ilbo, Rain is only just slightly behind Ang Lee and ahead of JK Rowling and George Clooney as the most influential artist / entertainer of 2006 in Time Magazine’s top 100. You, along with thousands of K-Pop fans, can … [Read More]
Lee O-young (tr John Holstein) – Things Korean
(Tuttle 1999) A lovely coffee table book with beautiful images with descriptions. Though I think that if I were a woman I would be bristling at times about the author’s nostalgia for the times when a woman concerned herself with womanly things. Links: Buy at Amazon.co.uk [Read More]
Jeon Jemin, ed Kevin O’Rourke: Korean Stories
(Eul & Al, 2004) A strange collection. Confucian stories, Buddhist stories, and some essays which though brief remind you of the disjointed ramblings of a genial but slightly senile grandfather. One of the essays does explain, though, why the bedwetting boy in one of the short films in the collection If you were me is … [Read More]
Judith G. Smith (ed): Arts of Korea
(Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1998) Beautifully illustrated with articles on Pottery, Buddhist Culture, Landscape Painting and other topics. A seriously lavish book, with a price tag to match. I’ll comment further once I’ve dipped into it. Links: Buy at Amazon.co.uk [Read More]
Roderick Whitfield (ed): Handbook of Korean Art – Folk Painting
(Laurence King Publishers, 2003) Part of a series of small books on Korean Art, this one is great to have on the bedside table. Each written section on a particular aspect of folk art takes a minute or so to read and is accompanied by several pages of examples and illustrations. Other books in the … [Read More]
Stephen Turnbull: Samurai Invasion – Japan’s Korean War 1592-98
Cassell, 2002, 256pp Shows how factionalism in the Korean court, complacency and incompetence led to the easy conquest of Korea by Japan in 1592. Well illustrated, with maps and photographs, this book plots the course of the 6-year occupation of Korea at the end of the 16th century, and the brutal modes of warfare (Korea’s … [Read More]