The Canadian Press reports on the North Korean soccer team spending time in hospitable French city of Nantes. (Thanks to Joshua Stanton at One Free Korea for dredging this one up, even if he appears to be opposed to “Track II” exchanges with North Korea.)
Then we have:
Cannes award-winning actress Jeon Do-yeon is being honored by the French government with the Chevalier des Arts et Lettres medal.
The award was established in 1957 by France’s Minister of Culture to recognize noteworthy contributors to the arts and literature.
Note the power of the French Alliance! They now have offices in Chengdu, China as well.
Then, the Taegu International Opera Festival features Weber’s Der Freischutz. It makes me want to whisper “Samiel!!!!” and make some silver bullets. Featuring North Korea as a Germanic wolf in the international system.
And, although he’s British rather than French, the artist Damien Hirst was in Taegu recently and sold an artwork for a whopping $17.2 million Hong Kong dollars (about $2.2 million) at an auction yesterday in Seoul. This is one of the highest amounts ever paid in East Asia for the work of a living European artist.
These Damien Hirst sculptures in Seoul, photographed by this French blogger in Korea, are rather fascinating.
So too is Lawren’s photo of a tribute in a store window to Korea’s great independence day, March 1, in a chocolate and pink sculpture.
Liberation has a great article on Pyongyang blowing hot and cold and a slightly older Le Figaro report gives some background on old Jack Lang and a “snake in the sea of culture” in French-Korean relations.
And Le Figaro has a beautiful photo gallery of China’s National Day celebrations.
Adam Cathcart 