this is bbc news, the headlines. president biden has congratulated the republican party after they secured control of the us house of representatives, following last week's midterm elections. the democrats still hold the senate. the republican majority in the lower house will limit president biden�*s ability to push through his legislative agenda. ukraine's president volodymyr zelensky says he's in no doubt the missile strike that killed two people in poland on tuesday was not caused by ukrainian air defence. nato, poland and the us believe the incident was most likely caused by a ukrainian air defence missile. and brazil's president—elect, luiz inacio lula da silva, has told the cop27 summit in egypt that fighting climate change will be his number one priority.

he said there would be no climate security for the world without a protected amazon rainforest. now on bbc news, talking movies. i have come to london's victoria and albert museum to the first exhibition ever to explore the global spread of korean pop culture — the drama, music, fashion and cinema that swept the world. i'm mixed race. my mum is korean, my dad is british, so, it brings me pride, it adds recognition for korea, makes it more well—known. hello, i am tom brook with a special edition of talking movies devoted

to korean cinema. i'm here in london at a special exhibition at the victoria and albert museum. it is called, hallyu! the korean wave. it's really looking at how korean pop culture has burst forth around the world. in talking movies, we will be looking at the growing global impact of korean cinema. we will be reporting from south korea's capital on the movie parasite, two years after its historic wins at the oscars. also park chan—wook, a towering figure in south korean cinema, discusses his latest film. and how women are beginning to make an impact in south korea's film industry, long dominated by men. and with many hits like parasite, what is next from korean cinema? what is the world about to see? korean pop culture of differing types is on display at the exhibition, including characters from the netflix series squid game, the deadly survival drama that has become a global sensation.

to help me understand the quran wave as it the korean wave as it pertains to cinema, i spoke to rosalie kim, who curated the exhibition. korean drama and cinema really exploded into the late 1990s. first a rippling across asia and this was a really crucial and hinge moment in korean history because by the 1990s, korea was a new young democracy that has overcome many years of oppression and repression, starting from the colonial period in 1910, going through the territorial division and the korean war and virtually 30 years of military rules. so it means by the 1990s, the film creatives were enjoying a creative license they had not enjoyed before for many decades. south korea's first democratic presidential elections in 1987 were a certainly a turning point, when years of military dictatorship came to an end, and then the film industry was helped when funding

from both public and private sources began to increase. in 1999, korea managed to create its first home—grown hollywood—style blockbuster with the action film, shiri. from that point, i think there was a realisation that the cinema is a very valuable cultural export and there were conscious policies that were put in place to support the growth of korean film industry, to globalise it and, along with making the whole korean society more open. so, korean cinema certainly benefited from this openness, from removal of the censorship restrictions, from, really, the attention of the government to nurture it, to support it and to let it grow. nowadays, south korean storytelling is revered for its artistic inventiveness. the claim is made that it often outdoes hollywood

in terms of originality. translation: we are a very small country, but we are - a very packed country, the population is very high. and because of this hustle mentality, as a person who works in film myself, we have to really, really hustle and strive to make high—quality films and i think that's the driving force that has made korean films as good as they are today, and that appeals to a global audience. well, you may recognise this set up — it is the bathroom scene from the film parasite and it has been very painstakingly recreated here at the exhibition, under the guidance of the set designerfrom the film. parasite was, of course, a movie that changed the perception of korean cinema around the world. what was it about the film that enabled it to become a breakthrough international hit? from seoul, juwon park has this report.

with four 0scar wins, including for best director and best picture, parasite dominated the 2020 oscars, becoming the first film not in the english language to ever win best picture. translation: it is the first time for a korean and asian| movie to win so this could be a big event but i think, at the same time, things like this will happen more often, it won't be news any more. translation: | think - there was a sense of immense pride that came from it, and i also think it was a really good example that shows that you can actually bring artistic success along with commercial success, and that the two can go together. the film itself is a darkly funny nightmare of what happens when a poor korean family become indispensable servants to a rich family. they move into the luxurious home and find they can't give it up.

it is a jaw—twisting plot combining comedy and horror as well as social commentary. translation: we currently live in an era of capitalism. - i think it is inevitable to tell stories about the rich and poor, notjust me, but directors all over the world. i belong to the front, you belong to the tail. but bong joon—ho was no overnight success. he was well known to cinemaphiles and had already worked with international stars likejohn hurt, tilda swinton, and chris evans on 2013 sci—fi thriller, snowpiercer. another striking commentary on class structure, using a train condemned to travel around the globe, carrying rich at the front, poor at the back. bong joon—ho has spent most of his film—making in south korea. but no district has become quite so famous as this one.

jahamun tunnel in seoul, the setting for one of the most iconic scenes in parasite, where they run down a long staircase after their harrowing escape. an area that features in many guidebooks and is a stopping point for many tourists. bong joon—ho said of parasite's win, that it removed the barriers that subtitles in films had been to english speaking audiences. certainly, parasite made international stars of its cast. translation: really, - because of the amazing charm that our actors have. that's why it's become so popular. the expressions, the gestures, the physicality they express. parasite will quite simply stand in history as one of the great films of the 21st century. korean cinema, at least when it comes to film—making,

has been pretty much a man's game with male directors calling the shots, but things are changing. as emma jones reports, women are gaining ground both in front of the camera and behind it. the first lady of korean film, kang soo—youn, became korea's first international superstar after winning the best actress prize at venice in 1987 for im kwon—taek�*s film, the surrogate woman, the story of a woman given to a couple to bear a surrogate child. she died this year aged 55, but kang was known for playing memorable, complex female characters long before that was considered to be important. 35 years after the surrogate woman, perhaps love is actress jo eun—ji's directing debut, the tale of a middle—aged writer falling for his

attractive student, and told humorously. she thinks seeing the breakthrough of stories for and by women are k—film's big challenge. translation: of course, - there are persisting problems in the korean film industry today. i do feel it is a sensitive issue so i don't want to step on any toes or anything, but there is definitely room for improvement. one of the things that comes to mind is the dearth of female character narratives in korean cinema today. i feel like there's definitely improvement that's necessary in that area, but on the other hand because, as you know, there has been a lot of global recognition for korean cinema, it's also thriving. there have been some noticeable breakthroughs including in 2008, forever the moment,

by new wave female auteur yim soon—rye, a fictionalised account of the korean women's handball team. 2016's the truth beneath, directed by lee kyoung—mi, is a fast—paced thriller about a political scandal and kidnap. it was a big hit with korean critics, although it was co—written by park chan—wook, and unlike his erotic thriller the handmaiden, also from 2016, didn't get invited to major festivals. it's really interesting to think why that was. and i think partly that was because festival programmers and directors were not paying attention to films by women and films about women, and partly it is probably to do with the fact that she's not such a well—known figure in the west, and so doesn't have the kind of fanbase that

someone like bong joon—ho and park chan—wook have. but hopefully will have in future. but i think it was just a very different time. maintaining a good outward appearance has been part of traditional korean society for centuries, and in modern times, this pressure inevitably and usually falls upon women. has this got something to do with the way women are portrayed in film? certainly, this year's notable films by female directors deal with a highly sexualised society. jeong—sun, widely played at festivals this year, is jeong ji—hye's debut film and a look at south korea's epidemic of digital sex crime through the story of one woman whose quiet life is ruined by it. the director of the london korean film festival,

lee eun—ji, this year has again a spotlight on women's voices. i would say young female film—makers in korea, they are still struggling and they mostly talk about women's rights, also daily lives of the young women and that's why they talk about more deep relationships, characters, like mother and daughter, but they can go more deep down and in more detail and dig into different ways how to film in the real world. a short film, nipple war 3 by paek si—won, has also gained a few headlines as a humorous take on a female tv producer refusing to pixelate parts of a woman's body on screen. just as in the rest of the world, women's voices are getting heard, but as yet they are rarely getting rewarded.

you might wonder what's going on behind this curtain at the exhibition. they are showing a very violent clip from the classic korean movie, oldboy, and they want to alert visitors to that fact. that film was directed by park chan—wook, who is one of south korea's most illustrious film—makers. recently he had a new film that came out, it's south korea's submission to the oscars next year. it's called decision to leave, and i went to meet him to talk about the film. decision to leave tells a story of a detective investigating the suspicious death of a man at the foot of a cliff. his widow seems unmoved. has she played a role in his demise? the detective finds he's attracted to her. the director hopes the ethical conflict posed in the film can engage the audience.

translation: | would say - when the emotion or the desire of love comes into conflict with social ethics, then sometimes love itself becomes a prison for other people. and for some, the social ethics become prison for them. so that contrast may be something that the audience can take away and really think about afterwards. director park chan—wook studied philosophy. he was a film critic. he knows cinema history, and he's long been impressed by british director alfred hitchcock. it is said that hitchcock's psychological thriller vertigo influenced decision to leave. i watched vertigo when i was in college, and that inspired me so much that i decided to become a film—maker one day. so, i don't think i will ever be out of the influence of hitchcock, and decision to leave is one particular

film that shows much influence from him. as i mentioned, a clip from park chan—wook�*s celebrated 2003 film oldboy was on display at the hallyu! the korean wave exhibition. it's of a violent fight in a corridor, seen as an impressively choreographed sequence in a movie which tells of a man kidnapped for 15 years who, upon release, attempts to track down his captor. the picture brought south korean cinema a lot of very positive international acclaim. i do agree with you that it was oldboy that put korean cinema on the map but, you know, there are other korean films before oldboy, of course, that were well—received outside of korea. but oldboy was the film that made this whole brand that's called korean extreme films. decision to leave doesn't exhibit much of park chan—wook�*s trademark extremes. the closest the leads come to expressing sexual attraction is the touch of a hand.

the reviews of this rather different park chan—wook film have been strong. its plot turns may be hard to follow, but it's a beautifully accomplished picture and you always know you're watching the work of one of the great masters of world cinema. ever since parasite won the best picture oscar and the top prize at the cannes film festival, everyone has been wondering what the next big thing will be from korean cinema. well, emma jones has been finding out what lies ahead, what's in the pipeline, what great, compelling cinema from south korea is on its way. it's notjust korean auteurs who are getting more exposure internationally. alienoid, by director choi dong—hoon, is a melting pot of time travel, sci—fi aliens and fantasy, all in one big blockbuster. it's pure fun, designed to entertain —

like the rest of his films. rock music plays. one of korea's most commercially successful directors, choi's credited with introducing the heist genre to korea — most famously in 2012's the thieves, still one of the country's most successful movies. hello! thank you, nice to meet you! nice to meet you. i met him as alienoid opened at the london korean film festival. the movie's just been released in the us and canada, as well as in the process of being sold to other countries. translation: i showcased my other film over ten years ago . with the london korean film festival and the korean cultural centre, and it certainly does feel different. but the audience remains a mystery. my life's focus is on how i make good films. but the korean film—makers — for them, the audiences are expanding, so i do now

think about what the international audience finds good and interesting in my films, so i think about that more. next, choi is working on a thriller, wiretap, starring this famous face — leejung—jae, the former model now actor, basking in globalfame thanks to emmy—winning netflix show squid game. leejung—jae is the star of hunt, and it's also his directing debut. it is one of korea's top ten biggest movies of 2022, now coming out internationally. this espionage thriller rattles along at 100 bullets per minute. it's plot is that after the assassination of south korea's president park in 1980, north korea thinks of invasion. his huge fan base may well have been considered when he was offered a world

premiere at the cannes film festival, but he'd laboured on the script for four years — long before squid game. translation: i actually had no ambition for directing. - in korea, most directors write their own screenplays and i had no faith in my ability to write my own, so i actually wanted to give producing a try, because i've been acting for 30 years, so i thought maybe producing would be possible, so i bought the rights for the original script and then i tried to find a director and writer to help me fix the screenplay and direct. it took me four years to write my own scenario and because i worked so hard on it, i thought maybe i know best how to do it, so i picked up my courage and decided to direct this as well. for those who prefer korean arthouse, japanese auteur hirokazu kore—eda shot his latest film broker in south korea. song kang—ho of parasite fame is the lead actor here again, and after he was awarded the cannes film festival best

actor prize, this too will have a global release. it's a quirky story, with song kang—ho playing an unusually kindly broker of baby sales, surprised when one mother returns for her baby. translation: with a story like this, if it was reported | on the news, they'd be bad guys — brokers trying to sell babies. but when you have a camera inside the van, you start to see a different side to the characters and i wanted the audience to see a different side of them — a glimpse of what you wouldn't get to see — and i think i do that a lot in my films. i wanted to show a different side to what we'd see in the media, and for people to realise we don't know the whole story. there's still one of the biggest beasts of all ready to be unleashed on audiences,

hansan: rising dragon, by kim han—min. a prequel to korea's most successful movie ever, 2014's the admiral — the story of how a tiny korean navy defeated a much largerjapanese fleet. thanks to this global appetite for k—content, korean films are also able to punch above their weight. this exhibition confirmed to me that south korea has made some of the very best cinema in the world, but there's something ominous in all the creativity in those films informed by themes of class warfare and violence. korean cinema is perhaps serving as a sentinel, warning nations where income inequality is growing of the dangers that may lie ahead. well, that brings our korean cinema special to a close. we hope you've enjoyed the programme. please remember you can always reach us online at bbc.com/talkingmovies

and you can find us on twitter. so, from me, tom brook, and the rest of the talking movies production team here in london, it's goodbye. # can you feel it? as we leave you with some exhibition highlights and enjoyable participatory activity. that that featuring suga of bts by psy plays. #junbihasigo! # go! # ssoseyo! # oh! # that, that, i like that. # like that. # gibunjoa, baby! # baby! # heundeureojwa u wi araero. # sing it! # one, two, three to the four. # sing it! # that, that, i like that. # that, that, i like that, baby. i like that. # it's like that, that, yo. # that, that, i like that. # that, that, i like that, baby. # that, that, i like that. # it's like that, that, yo. # do what you want! # say what you want! # do what you want! hello there, the weather

is looking pretty unsettled, quite a lot of rain in places and the risk of localised flooding. it's all because of an area of low pressure which is expected to hang around for thursday and friday, even into saturday morning, before it eventually fizzles out. this is the low pressure system i'm talking about, moving eastwards and then pulling back northwards and westwards across the country during thursday and friday, where it will weaken, but it will bring a lot of rain and fairly strong winds at times. we start thursday on a chilly note for western scotland, northern ireland, and there's frost and fog, but elsewhere where we have the cloud, wind and rain, temperatures between 5—9 degrees. a thoroughly wet day to come for thursday, our area of low pressure, as you can see, pushing heavy rain, east england, strongest of the winds along the north sea coast.

the best of any brighter weather is in northern ireland but nowhere particularly warm, nine to 11 degrees. and then through thursday night the rain continues to pile into eastern scotland and a few showers elsewhere into northern ireland. wet weather for northern england and north wales. probably the driest weather towards the south of the country. because there is more cloud and wind across the whole of the uk, it won't be quite as cold for many, 7—9 degrees. for friday there is our area of low pressure, starting to weaken, but it will bring a lot of rain to the northern half of the country, especially the east of scotland. by this point, rain really will be accumulating across angus, aberdeenshire and the risk of localised flooding here. something quieter for england generally. best of the sunshine on friday again. parts of northern ireland, wales, central and southern england. up to 12 degrees, but chilly further north where it

will continue to be windy, especially for the northern isles. that fizzles out on saturday and a brief spell of quieter weather before the next frontal system moves through on saturday night into sunday, and followed by sunshine and blustery showers. it starts off fairly dry for many on saturday and quite chilly. wet and windy weather sweeps through saturday night to sunday and that will be followed by sunshine and showers.

welcome to bbc news — i'm rich preston. our top stories. president biden congratulates the republicans as they secure a majority in the us house of representatives — marking a return to divided government in the united states. disagreement over the poland missile strike as ukraine insists its air defence teams weren't to blame. a rousing reception for brazil's president elect, lula da silva — who told the un climate summit he will stop the deforestation of the amazon lift off of artemis 1. and to the moon and back — nasa's most powerful rocket finally blasts off.