Did you know that New Malden is known as London’s Little Korea?

Around 20,000 Koreans live there, making it the area most populated by Koreans in Europe.

Last weekend was Chuseok, Korea’s harvest festival, and there were plenty of celebrations in Kingston including dance, taekwondo and food demonstrations in the town’s ancient Market Place.

We spoke to New Malden resident, Chef Hyungsoo Yim, about Kingston’s Korean community and the importance of sharing cultures:

Surrey Comet:

“To me, it is much more comfortable than living in Korea at the moment because now I have good neighbours in Kingston,” said Chef Yim.

“I have a good community. It’s not just Koreans, I have many Indian friends, Chinese friends, I have an English friend, people from many countries all around the world. 

“We always try to contribute to each other’s cultures and basically it’s about having fun through exchanging our culture.”

The Korean community run a series of events in Kingston throughout the year, including a street festival in New Malden.

“There’s food, K-pop, and Korean traditional dance,” said Chef Yim. 

“We have a big community, and also we are trying to contribute to this country. We are always exchanging our cultures. So I think it is a very good chance to understand our cultures and those of our neighbours.”

Surrey Comet:

Chef Yim says that when most people think of Korean food, they think of kimchi, a mixture of salted and fermented vegetables. 

He has developed a series of simple recipes to help people make kimchi in the UK, using ingredients available in the supermarket, but is keen to stress that Korean food is more familiar than people think, and even includes KFC!

He said: “We regularly offer a Korean cooking class at the Kingston Adult Education Centre. It’s every Wednesday 7-9pm. It involves introducing many Korean foods, but also it’s not just food, I’m showing them the culture as well. For example, the Korean drinking culture. We are drinking more than English people! But it is always with good food. 

“I always bring the Korean liquors, like makgeolli and soju, cheongju and fruit wine. I’m making two or three different types of Korean dishes that are matching with this liquor. Basically at the end of the class, some people were drunk! 

Surrey Comet:

“I am also running KFC, Korean Fried Chicken, night. I always bring the beer and soju cocktails and freshly fried kimchi. It’s a maximum of 10 people, it runs like school terms and they are always developing their skills on the course throughout the year. 

Mayor of Kingston, Councillor Margaret Thompson, also attended this year’s Korean festival and praised the contribution of the Korean community.  

She said: “The Korean community is just so important to us in Kingston. This meeting and sharing of cultures doesn’t  just happen in the mayor’s parlour with the ambassador, it’s happening in our schools and shops and places of worship.

“These kinds of festivals bring people together more and more and this sharing and meeting and understanding each other better just builds on the foundation of the diversity we have in Kingston. I’m really proud to be here and I have learnt a lot today.”