News of the KCC’s first exhibition of 2018: The Winter Wonders of PyeongChang Korean Cultural Centre UK | Grand Buildings | 1 – 3 Strand | London WC2N 5BW 10 January – 17 February 2018 The Winter Wonders of PyeongChang is an exhibition presented by UK Sport and the Korean Cultural Centre UK. Opened exactly […]
Tag: Olympics
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 […]
Looking back at 2014: Culture, sport and tourism
In the first of four articles looking back over 2014, we recall some of the culture, sports and heritage stories that made the news. Arts Dansaekhwa emerged as flavour of the year. Following the MMCA exhibition in 2013 and Joan Kee’s book, Kukje Gallery had a monochrome retrospective, and dansaekhwa artists were included in MMCA […]
No medals for the BBC’s Sochi closing ceremony coverage
As the Olympic flag was passed from Sochi to the mayor of Pyeongchang, it was time for a brief preview of the 2018 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony. The BBC voiceover was done by sports commentator Hazel Irvine, who had been handed a press briefing but no more. Helpfully, she identified that the bird characters on […]
Yuna is still Queen
Regardless of the controversy, Kim Yuna bowed out with dignity: “The judges give points and I can’t do anything about that,” she is reported as saying. “I did all I wanted to do, like I wanted to do it. … I’m just glad it’s over.” A few relevant links: The Change.org petition: Open Transparent Scores […]
A reason to watch the Sochi closing ceremony
A reason to watch the closing ceremony of the Sochi Winter Olympics as they hand over to Pyeongchang 2018: LKL’s favourite jazz singer Nah Youn Sun will perform Arirang with classical star Jo Sumi and former Boohwal lead singer Lee Seung-cheol. Sounds like a variation on President Park’s inauguration ceremony. Source: Chosun Ilbo You can […]
The London Korean Links Awards 2012
The seventh eclectic and highly personal commemoration of the best of the past year. Personality of the Year Runner up There were plenty of personalities in the South Korean Olympic team, particularly the pistol shooters, archers and the gymnasts. But the athlete that everyone will remember is fencer Shin A-lam, cheated out of a place […]
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. […]
Im Kwon-taek visits London for the Olympics
As part of the VIP delegation visiting from Seoul to launch Korea’s bid for Olympic glory in London 2012, a surprise dignitary was legendary film director Im Kwon-taek. I first caught sight of him at the Korea Shining Bright event at the Victoria and Albert Museum on Monday night, 30 July. I wondered if I […]
Needles and a mouth organ at Team Korea House
Yes, there have been K-pop flashmobs, dancing robots, traditional music performances and comedy magic shows at Team Korea House. There has even been a live radio show broadcast from there, with presenters dressed in royal hanbok. Last Saturday (4 August) was the final performance by Dulsori before they head off to Germany. They opened with […]
Monocle 24 broadcasts from Team Korea House
Live from Team Korea House, London, Monocle 24 hears from the CEO of the Korea Tourism Association, enjoys K-pop, and is joined by acupuncture expert Sena Lee. All to celebrate the Olympics. http://londonkoreanlinks.net/wp-content/uploads/audio/11000199.mp3 The K-pop interview is at 18’00” Sena is at 23’35” Philip is at 52’00”
LKL’s editor and Traditional Korean Medicine specialist on live radio
I haven’t been so nervous in a long time. I got the call from the Korean Tourism Organisation this morning – “please come along to Team Korea House to do an interview on live radio this evening.” I thought it might be good training for an interview with Arirang’s Morning Call programme I might be […]
Kim Soo-myun: no joy in the men’s gymnastics individual all-round finals
It was Tuesday evening before I could settle down to watch the men’s gymnastics finals – individual all round. It had already been a day of controversy for the Koreans in Badminton and there was disappointment yesterday with the fencing, so I hoped Kim Soo-myun would do well for his country. Not in the top […]
Korean badminton pairs – bad losers?
The two South Korean badminton teams kicked out of the games for trying to lose their matches – against Chinese and Indonesian pairs who were also trying to lose – both ended up winning. (Source – FT)
Korea’s male gymnast team loses out, but three solo efforts make it to the finals
Settling down to the 2012 Men’s gymnastics qualifier, I decided to do a little coverage for LKL. I’m a big fan of gymnastics, probably because of the inability to do even a cartwheel these days, and it has always been the highlight of the Olympics for me. Whilst I’m not the most technical person when […]
Witty Specsavers ad irritates academics
The quick-thinking Specsavers ad capitalising on the Olympic flag gaffe seems to have ruffled a feather in academic circles for being written in bad Korean. So what if “Specsavers” should be at the beginning of the sentence? Putting it there would have completely baffled the non-Korean speaking audience it’s aimed at.
Wenlock & Mandeville in Seoul
Official London 2012 mascots Wenlock & Mandeville braved sizzling heat to visit King Sejong in Gwanghwamun earlier this week. Excitement at fever pitch with Games starting soon! Via @UKinKorea