According to its constitution, the Association was not required to hold a general meeting in 2001. However, in view of the posting of the President, Dr James Hoare, to Pyongyang as British Charge d'Affaires, an extraordinary general meeting was held on 24 November in the course of the British Museum Study Day on North Korea, at which Mrs Beth McKillop was unanimously elected as the new President.

In the course of the year, Dr Tat Yan Kong (SOAS), and Mr Mike Cowin (FCO) were coopted as members of BAKS Council. Dr Judith Cherry resigned from the Council.

From 1-16 February 2002, what was proclaimed as the 'first commercial musical production from the Orient to have been staged on New York's Broadway' was transferred to the Apollo Theatre, Hammersmith. The Last Empress, the story of the Korean Queen Min, was a lavish production with a large cast. The Times leader described it as 'spectacularly staged and sung, gorgeous and highly coloured in every sense, it blends the soft lyrics of a modern western musical with the high dramatic value of traditional Korean opera.' Elsewhere the paper's theatre critic, though obviously impressed, found it harder to understand, calling it 'big, bold, baffling.'

Congratulations to Dr Keith Howard. He is to be the first Director of the AHRB-funded Research Centre for Cross-Cultural Music and Dance Performance at SOAS.

Congratulations also to Dr Michael Finch, who has moved to Keimyung University as professor of Korean studies, and is also Associate Editor of Acta Koreana.

Following their participation in the Study Day on 24 November, Mr Han Chang-gyu, Mr Kim Myong-chol and Mr Kang Yong-min visited the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford . At the latter they were looked after by the BAKS Treasurer, Dr James Lewis.

The Immediate Past President, Professor Pratt, represented BAKS at a dinner given in the Mansion House by the Lord Mayor of London in honour of President Kim Dae-jung and the First Lady. The President was in the UK as part of a four-nation European tour, during which he received the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo on 6 December 2001.

Three members of BAKS, Martina Deuchler, James Grayson, and Keith Pratt were honoured in December 2001 at a conference in Seoul marking the 10^th anniversary of the Korea Foundation. The three were cited for 'dedicating their entire professional careers to the promotion of Korea and its culture in foreign countries.'

Dr Hyang-jin Lee attended the 2002 Korean Studies Seminar at Berkeley.

The 2001 TES-Korean Embassy Essay Competition for Schools was a particular success, attracting around 500 entries.

Links between Egglescliffe School, Stockton-on-Tees, and Annam High School, Inchon, made sporadic progress during the autumn of 2001, but received fresh impetus in spring 2002 with the appointment of new staff in Inchon, including Principal, Vice-Principal, and teacher in charge of the link.

The Department of East Asian Studies at Sheffield University entertained a group of Year 10 students from Wales High School, Sheffield, who had been following a class project on the Korean War. Their teacher Mr Gareth Hughes had encouraged them to keep up their study of Korean society and culture, introducing them to e-mail penpals at Panpo High School in Seoul. Mr Hughes had won first prize in the teachers' category of the TES-Korean Embassy competition to design a Korean history course for the secondary school curriculum. During a subsequent visit to the Korean Embassy, the students surprised staff there by introducing themselves in Korean.