London Korean Links

Covering things Korean in London and beyond since 2006

Kingston’s Korean Harvest Festival

Now in its third year, the early Autumn Korean harvest festival organised by Korean British Cultural Exchange comes to Kingston’s marketplace this September: Kingston Celebrates Chuseok Saturday 22 September 2018, 12 noon – 4pm Ancient Market Place | Kingston-upon-Thames KT1 1JS www.kbce.org.uk/harvest Detailed schedule at the bottom of this page. Fun, family-friendly and free for … [Read More]

K-Pop UK National Competition 2018

This looks fun: separate from the UK round of the K-pop World Festival that was held earlier this summer, the Kingston-based organisation Korea British Cultural Exchange (KBCE) is organising a UK-specific national competition for K-pop dance and vocal covers. The finals will be held in Kingston at the end of October. K-Pop UK National Competition … [Read More]

The 73rd Independence Day celebrations in New Malden

Kingston’s Koreans today celebrated the 73rd anniversary of Independence Day. It was the first public engagement of the new ambassador, HE Park Eun-ha, who is to be thanked for making the time: she only arrived in London to take up her post two days ago. In attendance were Kingston’s Mayor, Thay Thayalan, and the leader … [Read More]

Event news: the 2018 Independence Day Korean Festival

The big Korean festival on Kingston’s Fairfield Recreation Ground seems to have run its course. Instead, this year we have a slightly smaller celebration in the heart of Koreatown: The 73rd Independence Day Ceremony and Festival Saturday 18 August 2018, 11:00am – 4:30pm Glasshouse Pub Courtyard | 14 Coombe Road | New Malden KT3 4QE … [Read More]

Kitchen Cabinet – the Korean edition

Radio 4’s food programme the The Kitchen Cabinet will be broadcasting from New Malden this Saturday, featuring all things Korean. On the panel will be Jordan Bourke, co-writer with Rejina Pyo of Our Korean Kitchen. The broadcast will be at 10:30 on Saturday morning, 27 January. It will be available on iPlayer thereafter. [Read More]

Kingston Korean Festival 2017: the photos

Here is a collection of photos from the Korean Festival held in Kingston’s ancient market place on Saturday 16 September 2017. 16,706 people attended the festival and 526 people enjoyed the audience participation programmes on the day! LKL, unfortunately, wasn’t one of them, and these photos are taken with permission from the organisers’ Facebook page … [Read More]

Jeju teachers in Kingston exchange

I do like receiving these occasional press releases from Kingston Council as I wouldn’t normally get to hear about things like this: Kingston schools welcome teachers from Korea in cultural exchange programme Seven teachers from Jeju in South Korea, Kingston’s partner town, are working in local schools and staying with local families as part of … [Read More]

Kingston Korean Festival returns to the market square

Following the great success of last year’s Autumn Full Moon Festival, Kingston Korean Festival 2017 returns to Kingston where the biggest Korean community in Europe is based. This year, Kingston Korean Festival runs two main programmes to celebrate Korean culture and engage with British people in many ways: Experience how Koreans are celebrate their first … [Read More]

Through Their Eyes exhibition opens in Kingston Museum

Kingston Museum’s exhibition devoted to Korean viewpoints on the UK and foreigner’s views on Korea opened last night with speeches from the Mayor, the Ambassador and the curator Seoyoung Kim (who bravely hosted the event despite being on crutches from a recent injury). Hyelim Kim endured the intense heat in the upstairs exhibition space to … [Read More]

Event news: Chuseok celebrations in Kingston

There will be some Chuseok festivities on Saturday 17 September in Kingston marketplace, 12-4pm, organised by Korean British Cultural Exchange and supported by Kingston Council. It is said to be the first Korean street/outdoor festival to be held in Kingston town centre, and is certainly to be welcomed as an alternative focus to celebrate Koreanness there now the summer festival in … [Read More]

Award for Korean Information Centre Co-founder

Congratulations to Bona Shin of the Korean Information Centre in New Malden for winning the Mayor’s Community Award for outstanding service to the Royal Borough of Kingston-upon-Thames. The award was presented on 31 March 2016. The Korean Information Centre opened on 2 February last year with the aim of building a healthier and happier Korean … [Read More]