Written by: Douglas Barrett  |  Posted on: April 9th, 2026

BKS AGM 2026

The British Korea Society held its AGM at the Korean Cultural Centre on 30 March 2026.

Minister Kim Siwoon who is responsible for public diplomacy at the Korean Embassy thanked the BKS for making the connection between Seoul and London. It is the 70^th anniversary of the BKS which shows that it is still relevant and aging well.

Chairman Simon Smith thanked the Korean Embassy, the KCCUK and our sponsor Samsung for their continued support. He also thanked long standing members as well as saying goodbye to Dr Sun from the KCCUK and Ambassador Yoon Yeocheol. He noted that we are grateful for the Embassy’s support in hosting the annual Chuseok reception. The upcoming year will feature a number of events including the Two Ambassadors meeting. We will continue to support the London Hallyu Diversity festival. Our annual reception will be on 2 December at the Victoria and Albert Museum and will hopefully coincide with the re-opening of the Korean Collection.

Hee Yu Lee ran through our finances. Income is strong and we are in good shape. We hope to get significant commercial support in the upcoming year.

Claire Moon gave the membership report. There are 262 members a slight increase on 2025. We gained 61 new members in the past year.

Ian Simm gave an update on the grants programme. Six grants were awarded in 2025 from 35 application. We already have 24 new proposals for 2026. He thanked Elizabeth Ryan and the grants sub-committee for their work throughout the year.

Sylvia Park-Timmons updated on events coming up including a trip to Cambridge, the Hallyu Festival, the Chuseok reception and many other events.

The new committee was elected including new member Gordon Dudley who was previously a director in the Korea British Society in Korea.

Sara Cook – Cherry Blossom Project

We also heard from Sara Cook a previous grant award recipient who has initiated a cherry blossom project – blossoms made from fabric. She has impressively managed to grow the project to over 90 participants based in over 20 countries. You can get more information at:-  https://bojagiuk.com/cherry-blossom-project.

Following the meeting we held a networking reception with drinks any lovey Korean food.

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