In 1899, the visiting Prince Heinrich of Prussia expressed his astonishment to Emperor Gojong at a traditional archery demonstration. The Prince, hailing from a militarized Prussian culture, sought out demonstrations of Korean martial arts, and Archery was the most impressive among the arts demonstrated. He was familiar with Turkish and Hungarian Archery of Europe, which … [Read More]
Tag: Archery
A selection of clippings from Rio 2016
1. The ROK team’s opening parade: who’s the foreign-looking chap who can’t tuck his shirt in or do his top button up? 2. The first selfie to go viral — gymnast Lee Eun-Ju (ROK) with Hong Un Jong (DPRK) (photo: Reuters): 3. The first world record of the games – in archery: “South Korean world … [Read More]
2016 travel diary 7: Gongju’s fortress
Gongju, Chungcheongnam-do, 16 May 2016, 3pm. Not far away from Songsan-ri is the fortress of Gongsanseong. It clings to the banks of the Geumgang river (nothing to do with Mount Geumgang in north Gangwondo) and its walls scale the cliffs and meander along the contours of the hill, forming a 2.6km circuit which climbs to … [Read More]
Echoes and connections – an introduction to LKL’s 2015 Korea Trip
A few days into this year’s Korea trip, my brain was threatening to explode. Coming to Seoul is always a pretty full-on experience: so many things to pack in, so many people to see; and inevitably the first few days you are also pretty sleep-deprived as you adjust to the time zone. But this year … [Read More]
2015 Travel Diary day 7: A King, two generals and a gisaeng
Sancheong-gun, Thursday 4 June Having over-indulged the previous evening, I didn’t sleep well. Although I had set the alarm to wake me up for my early morning hike, I didn’t really need it. I get up at 6am, and Kyung-sook emerges from the other room soon afterwards. We are shortly on our way along the … [Read More]
The Hairy Bikers come to Korea
Coming up this Thursday (20 March) on BBC2 at 8pm, the Hairy Bikers’ Asian Adventure finally brings them to Seoul. It will be on iPlayer thereafter, but I suspect viewers overseas may need one of those browser plugins which fool websites into thinking you’re logged in from a different country. The Bikers’ programmes are always … [Read More]
Looking back at 2012: Culture, tourism and branding stories
The first of four articles in which we look back at some of the stories which caught our attention during the course of 2012. In this first article we look at cultural promotion, heritage, tourism and related topics. Heritage and Cultural Promotion Korea’s national folk song, Arirang, was listed as world Intangible Cultural Heritage by … [Read More]
A London 2012 Korean Olympic round-up
Here are some of the highlights and headlines from the past two weeks or so of Korean athletes at the London 2012 Olympics: 25 July North Korea’s Olympic women’s football team walked off the pitch for an hour at their opening London 2012 match tonight after organisers mistakenly introduced the players using South Korea’s flag. … [Read More]
2012 Travel Diary 7: Yi Sun-shin — military genius, hero, poet
Tongyeong, Gyeongsangnam-do, Monday 26 March 2012. The brief ferry ride from Tongyeong to Hansando traverses the sheltered sound where Admiral Yi Sun-shin won a famous victory over the Japanese navy on 14 August 1592. On the day I crossed, it was difficult to imagine the tumult of a battle in which 47 Japanese ships were … [Read More]
Korea at the 2008 Beijing Olympics
by Aashish Gadhvi The Beijing Olympics was a fortnight of sporting gold, a plethora of the world’s top athletes going head to head in the greatest show on Earth. This year’s Olympics was always going to be major headlines, not just for the sports but also for the tirade of anti-Chinese media which preceded it … [Read More]