London Korean Links

Covering things Korean in London and beyond since 2006

Oxford lecture on Koguryo and Balhae

With apologies for the late notice, I’ve just heard about a lecture on Koguryo and Balhae / Parhae / Bohai at Oxford tomorrow. Details as follows: Institute for Chinese Studies University of Oxford Trinity Term 2007 Seminar Series Koguryo and Bohai in the East Asian world order Tineke D’Haeseleer Institute of Chinese Studies University of … [Read More]

Your input is valued

Towards the end of last year I asked you to provide feedback, anonymous or otherwise, on Think Korea 2006. Part of my motive for doing that was to reflect any comments you had in my year-end roundup of 2006 events. But also I knew that the organisers were going to ask for some informal face-to-face … [Read More]

Statistics for May

Here’s the usual monthly post on traffic volumes and other miscellaneous site updates. For the first time this month I’ve started including the statistics provided by Webalizer as well as those provided by Awstats. Webalizer, as I said a month or so ago, gives readership at least 20% higher than Awstats, and therefore those will … [Read More]

Kayageum player #4 in Miss Universe

Honey Lee, crowned Miss Korea in August 2006, studies traditional music at Seoul National University, specialising in the kayageum. Her mother is a professor at Ehwa, and was designated a “living cultural asset” in kayageum music earlier this year. Lee was a strong contender in this year’s Miss Universe contest, recently held in Mexico. In … [Read More]

KORUS links

The show’s not over yet on the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement, but while there’s a lull in the proceedings I’m taking the opportunity to post a few links which I’ll update as necessary. 1. The text of the draft agreement The full text – an index of all the pdf documents which make up the … [Read More]

Lim Hyung-joo, Korean popera star comes to London

Thanks to the watchful eyes of Kay, I discovered just in time for yesterday’s “what’s on” post that the Korean Residents Society have invited the youthful popera star Lim Hyung-joo to appear at St John’s Smith Square next week. The programme includes some classical lollipops plus one or two of the songs which have made … [Read More]

June events 2007

Here are the events I know about for June. And please note that the London Korean Film Festival which normally takes place at the Prince Charles Cinema at about this time of year is not happening this year. There will however be a film festival later this year, organised by the Korean Cultural Centre. Academia, … [Read More]

Korean Seasons to launch the summer

The London concert-going public groans inwardly when it sees yet another advertisement for a candle-lit Vivaldi Four Seasons performed by a scratch orchestra at some central London church or other. Such a programme must put bums on seats or else promoters wouldn’t constantly recycle it. But we yearn for something a bit more innovative. Well, … [Read More]

New record price for Korean painting

Every few months there’s another news item in the Korean press about a new domestic record price paid at auction for a Korean painting. And each time, the artist is Park Soo-keun (Bak Su-geun, 박수근) (1914-1965). The most recent record was set this month (22 May), at W4.52bn: The previous record was for Park Soo-keun’s … [Read More]

Jeon Do-yeon wins at Cannes

Congratulations to Jeon Do-yeon on winning best actress at Cannes. She was an early front-runner in the competition, and just for once those early hopes of success were justified. For the first third of its nearly two-and-a-half-hour running time, “Secret Sunshine” feels like a slightly somber fish-out-of-water comedy (reports AO Scott at the New York … [Read More]

From Fan dance to Breakdance for Dano festival

For those who missed the Korean breakdancers when they came to London earlier this year, the Rivers crew from Korea (left) will be battling it out with the Bad Taste Cru from the UK in Trafalgar Square on June 17. It’s all part of a unique event to celebrate Dano, the Korean early summer festival. … [Read More]

Korean social events this weekend

A reminder of the Korean language meet-up tomorrow night. For full details you need to join the Meetup group, but it’s an informal event which starts in a coffee shop in Theatreland in the early evening. Alternatively, or afterwards, there’s what seems to be another informal meetup in a bar off Trafalgar Square. This one … [Read More]

Myung-whun Chung in sell-out Barbican concert

If you’re prepared to turn up on the off-chance of there being returns, Myung-whun Chung is conducting the LSO tonight at the Barbican in what is becoming quite a popular coupling: Mozart and Bruckner. Piotr Anderszewski plays everybody’s favourite Mozart Piano Concerto — No 23, K488, while the meatier part of the programme is made … [Read More]

Stateside celeb update

Avid blogwatchers will find this particular post surplus to requirements. This post is for my own benefit, just in case I lose the various links which are hot at the moment but which may soon cool off. Rain’s ongoing efforts to achieve the unprecedented feat of winning LKL Man of the Year two years running … [Read More]