Expat Advisory Services Seoul

Tiffany the Korean rescue dog gets a new face and a new life

February 22, 2010 by Eileen Cahill

Tiffany in October 2009 following reconstructive surgery (photo courtesy of Falyn Jarvis)

In late 2008, the closure of a small private shelter in Daejeon brought some 25 volunteers together to move 70 dogs to a mountainside property in Asan. Photographer Harvey Rosas, one of the volunteers, posted a warning when he shared his pictures on the Animal Rescue Korea Web site: One image was very disturbing.

Seoul
Pets

Korean dog flies to Angel's Gate, a hospice for animals with special needs

February 9, 2010 by Eileen Cahill

Jang Gun sleeping (photo courtesy of Annie Perrin)

When people question the value of Susan Marino's work, she tells the story of a 2-year-old boy she cared for many years ago when she was still a young nurse. Sean had spina bifida and had already endured 10 surgeries, including a tracheotomy and a colostomy. He was paralyzed and his misshapen spine was crushing his lungs.

"One day while we were eating breakfast I said, 'Poor Sean. He will never be able to do the things so many other children can.' Before I even had the words out of my mouth his mother looked at me with daggers in her eyes.

Seoul
Pets

Vegan living takes off with new restaurant chain, shopping site, online community in Korea

January 28, 2010 by Eileen Cahill

Vegan desserts (photo courtesy of Park Jimin)

Park Jimin had just started her teaching career when she decided to become a vegan in April 2009. Vegans don't eat or use animal products such as meat, milk, eggs, honey, leather or wool—but as an elementary school teacher, she was expected to eat the lunch the school provided. Just a month into her new job, she had to explain her decision to the principal, the other teachers and the students.

Seoul
Living

Help Animal Rescue Korea save death row dogs, sick kitties, animals with special needs

December 28, 2009 by Eileen Cahill

Boksil lives at a shelter in Asan that relies on ARK for help. You can sponsor a shelter dog's heartworm preventative medicine.

Karen Busch taught English in Korea for seven years and got heavily involved in animal rescue work during her time here. She now operates the Animal Rescue Korea Web site from Montreal.

ARK isn't a registered charity yet, but Busch and her colleagues in Korea are organizing a sponsorship program so that more homeless animals can be rescued and sick animals can receive needed veterinary care.

Seoul
Pets

Gyeonggi Province's Cheongpyeong Lake

September 15, 2009 by Alphonse

Driving for an hour heading east of the Korean peninsula, and into Gyeonggi Province's Gapyeong County, my colleagues and I stumbled into the Cheongpyeong Lake, which is much like Lake Placid without the monster crocodile. Hahaha!

But even with the monsoon rains trying to spoil what's left of the summer, we stopped at a river resort inappropriately named, Maison de Bali, which would make one think of the open sea. Instead, it was a lake where we had to make do with the boat rides, food and singing overnight.

Seoul
Travel

Giving back (while having fun), kicking off September!

August 27, 2009 by Kelly Frances

Hilton Tourney for Kids

Recently, the expat community in Seoul has shown extraordinary effort in supporting causes through fundraisers that not only give people a chance to 'give back', but they're a lot of fun.

In the wake of recent bad press in the realm of expat gambling, 7luck Poker has stepped up to sponsor 2 charity events; the first of which was a Bear Benefit on August 15th, and the second, which will be held at 1:00pm on September 5th, will support Jae Chun Children’s Home . The Hilton Poker Room is committed to supporting local communities through grants, in-kind donations; community outreach and employee volunteer programs. You can help them succeed (and possibly walk away with some extra pocket money). For more information on Jae Chun, visit www.cchkorea.org

The New Restaurants along Hannam-dong's Main Street

August 26, 2009 by Alphonse

Banana Grill

Hannam-dong's main street (in Yongsan-gu, Seoul) is introducing more interesting restaurants!

Hannam-dong hosts Seoul's version of the Embassy Row, where embassies of different countries and their diplomats live. And most of them reside at the UN Village, which is, perhaps, Hannam-dong's most famous landmark (Dankook University used to be the landmark before it transferred its campus).

Animal Rescue Korea, Dr. Pet Animal Medical Center hold weekly Adoption Days in Seoul

August 25, 2009 by Eileen Cahill

Volunteers dry off newly arrived dogs from the Asan shelter

I visited the Dr. Pet Animal Medical Center on a rainy Saturday in July—I'd just missed Adoption Day. As soon as I walked in, I recognized Jagi from the Animal Rescue Korea Web site. The tiny Yorkshire terrier had the run of the first floor, and I picked him up and cuddled him while I waited.

Jagi's foster parents had left the country, and Dr. Pet was his emergency refuge. Before that, he had been rescued from a municipal pound—under Korea's newly revised animal protection law, the minimum holding period is only 10 days.

Seoul
Pets

Lady-friendly Seoul

July 5, 2009 by Abby Rhodes

You can see a green squishy sidewalk in the back, left corner

In late April the Seoul Metropolitan Government announced plans to make Korea more female-friendly. Sounds great to those of my variety, but some the ideas put forth by the overwhelmingly male-staffed government to reach this goal are at the same time humorous and mildly offensive. Parking spaces designated as ladies-only have been a big media attraction. Complete with pink paint and skirted icons, the spaces certainly brighten up the city's public parking areas. Perhaps its not the idea itself that's questionably altruistic, but the way in which officials and media are describing it.

Developing Story: Foreigner Drugs and Gambling “Ring”

July 5, 2009 by Korean Media Watch

From the station - source unknown

UPDATE: We got an audio interview with several of the main players, along with some pretty disturbing descriptions of police misconduct, coercion of testimony, and even alleged lying to the Canadian embassy when asked if media were present — the officer communicating said they weren’t, although the picture taken by one of the suspects shows a different story.

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