Many LKL readers will have been friends with, or had the great pleasure of meeting David Kilburn, who sadly passed away in Seoul on Monday, 7 October. David was a steadfast supporter of justice campaigns such as the Sewol ferry disaster and the ‘comfort women’ issue. He had his own personal experience of injustice in … [Read More]
Tag: Hanok
David Kilburn’s hanok featured in Korea.net magazine
Congratulations to David Kilburn of kahoidong.com for his hanok feature article in November’s Korea magazine (5Mb pdf download: http://t.co/9PANXC3f) Next, a talk at the KCCUK? And the Korea.net illustrators did a good likeness of you too! And from earlier this year: The fading remnants of South Korea's traditional buildings – CSMonitor.com http://bit.ly/hbBb9N More press coverage … [Read More]
Dan Brown, Go, photos and parades in Pyongyang
Today's Grauniad has some striking photos of the recent Kim Jong-un parade in Pyongyang. Some of daily life in Pyongyang too. Photos by Dan Chung. # The cultural life of North Korea. Did you know Dan Brown is a hit there? Interesting piece in the Grauniad. http://bit.ly/ccnpdM # More photos of 65th anniversary of the … [Read More]
Kahoidong makes it into the LA Times
A foreigner's battle to preserve South Korea's hanoks – LA Times. More coverage for David Kilburn's Kahoidong campaign http://lat.ms/br7d1t # [Read More]
Kahoidong.com on KBS
David Kilburn talks about hanok preservation in an interview with KBS World: http://bit.ly/9seisq #. I do hope the KCC get around to inviting him to give a talk. This is an important subject. [Read More]
Foreigners struggle to preserve Seoul’s hanok heritage
Foreign hanok defenders battle obliteration of Seoul’s architectural heritage. Andrew Salmon writes for Yonhap on David Kilburn and Peter Bartholomew (above). http://bit.ly/97IhMI Also echoed in the Joongang Ilbo. #. I’ve been trying to arrange for David Kilburn to give a talk on preservation at the KCC in London, but I think the whole thing is … [Read More]
2010 Travel Diary #38: Return to Seoul
The final installments of LKL’s trip to Korea at the beginning of May Saturday 8 May 2010. We are back in Seoul in good time. At the start of the week, I hadn’t known what my Sancheong schedule was going to look like: my friend Kyung-sook had managed to secure an extra day or so … [Read More]
2010 Travel Diary #32: The Beautiful Walls of Namsa-ri
In the week that Hahoe folk village near Andong was admitted to the UNESCO heritage list, LKL recalls a visit to Namsa-ri, a less-visited but equally impressive hanok village. Friday 7 May 2010. After our visit to the Nambugun memorial museum we were feeling in sombre mood. But fortunately, lunch comes to the rescue. Sancheong … [Read More]
Hanoks can survive … when they are outside Seoul
Re Hahoe and Yangdong: David Kilburn reminds us that those two villages, recently listed at UNESCO, were lucky not to be inside the Seoul Metropolitan area. “Hanoks can survive … when they are outside Seoul.” The approach in Seoul is to knock hanoks down, even when they are in a conservation area. http://bit.ly/aC3flu # [Read More]
Hahoe and Yangdong listed at UNESCO
Congratulations to historic villages Hahoe and Yangdong, “two of the most representative historic clan villages in the Republic of Korea,” and Korea’s latest inclusion in the UNESCO world heritage list, on 31 July. http://bit.ly/cqjKEl # The BBC has some nice photos of both villages, plus other UNESCO sites listed along with them including Reunion Island … [Read More]
Traditional Korean Medicine in Korean Culture #1: Ondol and Samgyetang
Korea is a country of contrasts and contradictions, in which seeming opposites can coexist in harmony with each other: it is a developed modern country with a high standard of living while keeping traditions alive at the same time; it has world-leading technology, but it is not uncommon for people to consult a shaman for … [Read More]
Heritage, Human Rights, & Hanoks
MUST READ: David Kilburn's scathing critique of Seoul's conservation record, in a talk given at the National Human Rights Committee Study Centre: Heritage, Human Rights, & Hanoks http://bit.ly/9Eff2D #. Here’s a sample: Since 1976, the Seoul Government has claimed it has policies to preserve the hanoks of Bukchon. Yet the simple fact is that the … [Read More]
A belated look back at 2009
For the past 3 years LKL has concocted a quiz of the year as a way of gathering together some of the news stories which have most caught our eye. This year, as I came to draw up the list in mid December I found it hard to think of anything amusing or diverting: most … [Read More]
Looking at Korea through a glass sphere
British photographer (and English teacher in Korea) Simon Bond sees Korea through a glass sphere – a nice article in the Daily Telegraph http://bit.ly/3NW0oi # Simon Bond’s websites: on Flickr | 369photography.co.uk (where you can buy his work). [Read More]
The art of hanok living
It’s good to see westerners other other than David Kilburn pointing out that you don’t have to demolish a Hanok to make it inhabitable: http://bit.ly/4GWamM #. Peter Bartholomew and Tom Coyner in the Joongang Daily. There is a belief in Korea (and other Asian countries) that total demolition of an old traditional building and new … [Read More]
Why on earth would UNESCO honour Seoul’s hanok regeneration programme?
Seoul City planners have been honoured by UNESCO for their Bukchon hanok “regeneration” programme. How on earth did that happen, given their not very stellar record? (See kahoidong.com) # [Read More]