A reluctant daughter is transported to her parents’ past, where witnessing her mother’s youth reshapes long-held resentment into empathy. Featuring masterful dual performances by Jeon Do-yeon, My Mother The Mermaid is a simple story, beautifully conceived. Dedicated “To mother”, it, in fact, stands as a dedication to motherhood itself. [Read More]
Place: Jeju-do (page 4)
Selected publications
- Her Tae Yeon: Hakuda Photo Studio tr Shanna Tan, John Murray 2025
- Park Hyun-joo: Romancing on Jeju tr Paige Aniyah Morris, Amazon Crossing 2024
- Kim Sok-pom: Death of a Crow tr Christina Yi, Seoul Selection 2022
- Sumi Hahn: The Mermaid from Jeju, Crooked Lane Books 2020
- Michael Gibb: A Korean Odyssey: Island Hopping in Choppy Waters, Camphor Press 2020
- E. J. Koh: The Magical Language of Others: A Memoir, Tin House 2020
- Changyong Yang, Sejung Yang, William O'Grady: Jejueo: The Language of Korea’s Jeju Island, University of Hawai'i Press 2019
- Kyoim Yun: The Shaman’s Wages: Trading in Ritual on Cheju Island, University of Washington Press 2019
- Lisa See: The Island of Sea Women, Scribner 2019
- Hyun Ki-young: Suni Samchon (Bi-lingual, Vol 3 – Division) tr Lee Jung-hi, Asia Publishers 2012
- Kim Sok-pom: The Curious Tale of Mandogi’s Ghost tr Cindi Textor, Columbia University Press 2010
- Hyun Ki-young: Aunt Suni tr Song Jong-do, Gak 2008
- Hyun Kil-un: Dead Silence tr John Michael McGuire, Kang Hyunsook, Lee Jin-ah, Eastbridge 2006
1948 Jeju uprising remembered in newly-translated novel
Looks like an interesting new book about to hit UK bookshops on 29 September, from Columbia University Press: The Curious Tale of Mandogi’s Ghost by Kim Sok-pom The Curious Tale of Mandogi’s Ghost incorporates Korean folk tales, ghost stories, and myth into a phenomenal depiction of epic tragedy. Written by a zainichi, a permanent resident … [Read More]
The April 3rd Massacre Tree
An alternative, historical, tourist destination in Jeju – the April 3rd Massacre Tree. Great article in Jeju Weekly highlighting the incident whose wounds are still felt today. http://bit.ly/4Lwr07. # [Read More]
Jeju’s destiny is set in stone
Darren Southcott, recently returned from a stint in Jeju-do, appreciates one of the island’s unique attractions: Jeju Stone Park In this age of globalisation, authentic Korea may seem elusive and challenging for the visitor to find, but there are many sites which seek to preserve the nation’s cultural spirit. Jeju Island, despite heavy tourist development, … [Read More]
Meeting more Mr Kims: CoolstuffKorea on Cheju Island
Jennifer Barclay, LKL contributor and author of Meeting Mr Kim, has landed herself a dream assignment for the Korean Tourism Organisation: tweet about Korea, travel round Korea, write about Korea on Facebook, generally do things we’d all like to be doing, and maybe earn a little bit of pocket money as well. Nice one, Jen. … [Read More]
Visit Korea, experience the Cold War
Coming to the Travel Channel this autumn is a new travel documentary on Korea. At the Korea Tourism evening at the KCC last week we were given a preview. It was refreshing: a Korean tourism documentary, but from a Westerner’s perspective. Yes, we were told that the KTO assisted in the film’s production, but the … [Read More]
The divers of Jeju-do
LKL digests Barbara Hammer’s documentary “Diving Women of Jeju-do”, which screened in a recent film festival in London. Barbara Hammer’s brief documentary Diving Women of Jeju-do (2007) provides an intimate portrait of Cheju-do’s famous diving women, the haenyo. Barbara Hammer goes diving with the women, and took trouble to get to know their ways. She … [Read More]
The Uprising (이재수의 난, 1999) review: when history drowns in endless exposition
An endless pre-occupation with forced exposition combined with a lack of character depth and, resultantly, next to no character empathy whatsoever, all adds up to The Uprising being dull from start to finish. Not only a waste of the talents of Shim Eun-ha and Lee Jung-jae but, ultimately, also rather a waste of viewers’ time… [Read More]
The top 30 LKL pictures of 2007: the top 10
Here’s the top ten. And probably not all that work-safe. #10: The second appearance of LKL’s favourite ex-playboy model, Lee Sabi (806 views): #9: The Chejudo Love Land theme park (884): #8: Sassy girl and last vampire Jeon Ji-hyun displaying her smooth thighs as a rock chick (969): #7: Pop diva, CF queen and all-round … [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]
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]