BAKS: promoting the study and understanding of Korea in the United Kingdom
SOAS,
University of London The principal museum
collections of Korean art and archaeology in the UK are those at: For information about
Korean holdings in the British Library, see its website at http://www.bl.uk/collections/korean.html The following
addresses outside the UK are of related interest:
university
degree courses
The University of Sheffield
The
University of Oxford
museums and
libraries
The
British museum (http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk)
The Victoria and Albert museum
The Fitzwilliam
Museum (Cambridge, http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk)
The Ashmolean Museum (Oxford, http://www.ashmolean.org/)
National Museum for Contemporary Art (http://www.moca.go.kr/)
a site covering
art and architecture, film, cyber culture, language and literature; maintained
from Kumamoto,
(http://yuldo.net)
English-language
information on
governmental and non-governmental
organisations
UK-Korea Forum for the
Future. BAKS is represented on the Standing Committee and the Education
Working Group of the UK-Korea Forum for the Future, a bilateral organisation
formed in 1992 which offers advice annually to Foreign Ministers on initiatives
to reinforce the UK/Korea relationship. It aims also to assist the resolution of
problems between the two countries, to improve public awareness of each country
in the other and to develop personal contacts between high-level figures from
both countries. Discussion at the Forum's annual meetings, held alternately in
London and Seoul, can cover all aspects of the
bilateral relationship but its principal focus is on political, economic,
educational and cultural issues. Forum participants include senior politicians
and government ministers, business leaders, academics, and representatives of
NGOs and the media.
The UK
Secretariat for the Forum is maintained by Asia House, a
non-profit charitable company launched in 1996 to promote appreciation and
understanding of Asian countries, their cultures and economies, and to foster
closer communication between the peoples of Asia and Europe through dynamic
cultural and corporate programmes. It is currently developing a property in
central London which will
provide extensive facilities including an art gallery and auditorium, reception
rooms, meeting rooms and offices. Asia House promotes a Corporate Programme and
a Cultural Programme. Its website is as http://www.asiahouse.org, or for
more information contact enquiries@asiahouse.co.uk; tel. 020
7499 1287, fax 020 7499 8618.
trade
links
Useful addresses for information
concerning commercial links with
The Department
of Trade & Industry (http://www.dti.gov.uk/)
The British Embassy in Seoul (http://www.britain.or.kr)
Korea Trade
Investment Promotion Agency (http://www.kotra.org.kr)
Ministry of
Commerce, Industry and Energy (http://www.mocie.go.kr/engindex.htm)
Ministry of
Finance and Economy (http://www.mofe.go.kr/mofe/eng/e_index.htm)
Korea Investment
Service Centre (http://www.kisc.org)
Also
see:
further addresses of related interest
Korean Studies is an
international, English-language, nonpartisan, moderated electronic discussion
group on
* * * * *
ClickKorea (http://www.clickkorea.org)
maintains a website on Korean arts and culture. This serves as a valuable source
of information about various cultural events of
Koreana - a quarterly on Korean arts and culture, Korea Focus - a bimonthly on current affairs in Korea, Koreanist.net - Korean Studies Scholars and Students Database. This website, developed by the Korea Foundation, is a foremost information resource on Korean culture.
Information about Korea-related
events in and around London can be found on the following
portal:
http://www.londonkoreanlinks.net/blog/
* * * *
An interesting blog related to Korean history is run by Own Miller at:
http://www.froginawell.net/korea/
* * * *
The DPRK
The Institute for
Websites dedicated to
1.
Email: admin@korea-publ.com
2. The link to KCNA is available directly at http://www.kcna.co.jp
3. The main North Korean Naenara site (http://www.kcckp.net), has now become far more user-friendly. No need to register any more, and you can access recent issues of the Pyongyang Times, Korea Today, Foreign Trade of the DPRK, and more. Among other resources, this includes the full text of the DPRK Constitution; and also of no fewer than 38 different laws and regulations pertaining to foreign business (at http://www.kcckp.net/en/trade/trade-rule.php)
Other delights include sections on art, tourism, politics and more. You can also listen to music (eleven full CDs available: you can even follow the musical score).
4. For details of the journal North Korean Review, go to:
suggested sites from BAKS members
The
following update was received from Aidan Foster-Carter:
1. www.northkoreatimes.com will, if you sign up
(no charge), email you daily DPRK-related headlines
It's a bit hit and miss, and the
links don't always work. I suspect it's computer-generated, as it seems to be
part of a whole family of sites. (The
2. Daily
headlines are also one of the services offered by the similarly named but quite
unrelated www.nk-news.net This is a new
dedicated
http://www.nk-news.net/about/site_history.php) For anyone put off (but why be?) by the cheerful irreverence - site features include a Random Insult Generator, with suggestions like "human scum" (24 entries) or "resolutely smash" (48) to get you started - this is nonetheless a serious research tool, going right back to 1996. Thus one of my own hobbyhorses, "land rezoning", yields 93 entries. There are 43 for catfish, 26 for ostrich; and so on. Other useful features include a Gregorian - Juche era calendar conversion tool.
3. Some are born, others die. With no updating since February, it looks as if www.pyongyangsquare is no more.
of further interest
Association for Korean Studies in Europe
Korea Research Hub (University of Leeds)
Frank Hoffmann's Korean Studies Portal
Ken Robinson's Korean History Bibliography
http://www.kofo.or.kr (the Korea Foundation)
http://www.krf.or.kr (Korea Research Foundation)
http://www.ncktpa.go.kr (National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts)
http://rki.kbs.co.kr (Radio Korea International)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LearningKorean/ (a general mailing list run from the USA for people interested in learning Korean or in other aspects of the language)
http://NKzone.org (a site devoted to
And the following site is recommended by Dr Aidan Foster-Carter:
Asia Research Centre, London School of Economics