Get rid of those January 2012 blues with some Irish céili and set dancing in Seongbuk-gu on Sat January 28th. Beginners welcome

Posted on January 24, 2012 by

Longstanding IAK member Sean Conneely is running a night of céilé and set dancing on Sat Jan 28th in the Columban centre in Seongbuk-gu. The atmosphere is welcoming, you don’t need to know anything about Irish dancing (or even about dancing fullstop), just bring a bit of enthusiasm.

Further details here

Here’s a dance that will probably get performed – The Siege of Ennis

See – it’s fun!

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Ambassador’s Message, 19 January, 2012

Posted on January 19, 2012 by

Message from the Irish embassy

“Ambassador’s Message 19 January 2012
While in contrast to last year, we have not had much snow, I want to draw your attention to two events that cannot do without it.

The first is the International Ski Festival.  It has been one of the highlights of the year for expatriate families living in Korea for thirty years and indeed the Festival is celebrating its 30th anniversary.

It has been my honour to be selected as this year’s Chairman.  Indeed previous Irish Ambassador’s have served in this role, including Ambassador Moran for the five years he was posted to Seoul.

He had the distinct advantage of being able to ski!  That said and even though skiing is not a great tradition in Ireland for obvious reasons, if you have skied or are interested in giving it a go, the International Ski Festival is not a bad place to start.  For more information on the event, please visit http://www.yongpyong.co.kr/eng/index.asp

The second concerns the 2013 Special Olympics World Winter Games and the need for support and volunteers.

It will be held in Pyeongchang in early February next year.  Some of you may have noticed a recent advertising campaign to raise awareness of it. We have heard from Special Olympics Ireland that they expect there to be 14 Irish athletes attending the games, competing in Alpine Skiing and Floorball (Floor Hockey).

One of the unique elements of the Special Olympics is the Host Town Programme where athletes from the different countries stay in a town before the Games begin to learn something of the culture and environment of the host country. Some of you may remember the great success of this programme in Ireland when as a result nearly every corner of the country felt involved.

The organisers of the games are building up to the hosting of the event and are very aware of the challenges of hosting teams from so many different parts of the world. It is not yet certain where the Irish team will be hosted but it is likely to be in the greater Seoul area.

As the Games approach the organisers are looking for both assistance in holding the Games and volunteers to take part in the Host Town Programme. Support could include providing athletes with services, turning up to cheer them on or volunteering to spend the days before the games with the team (26-29 January) acting as local liaison between the Irish team and Korean hosts. Korean language skills would be an added bonus but not essential.  The organisers want to make sure that there is plenty of support for the teams as they compete.

As more details become available on how to sign up to be a volunteer or to offer assistance we will let you know.

In the meantime you might wish to have a look at the Games’ website: http://www.2013sopoc.org/hb/en/sub06

Best wishes and Happy New (Lunar) Year,
Eamonn

Eamonn McKee
Ambassador”

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Update of the links on the IAK website

Posted on January 18, 2012 by

Could you please take a look at this page and suggest any ammendments to it. We are looking to build an online resource of links useful to the Irish community: http://iak.co.kr/links/ 

This is the ‘links’ page on the IAK website. Right now, it is out of date and fairly useless. We want to have a very resourceful selection of links for the Irish community here in Korea, and also, for Koreans who may be interested in finding out about Ireland.

If you want to send us in some links with a brief description of what it is and how it was useful to you, please do so. They can be specifically for or about Irish people, or just of general use and interest to Irish people. They can be for music, food, events, clubs, or whatever. Even if it’s a facebook page or blog or whatever, that would be great. Also, if you know of an blogs or websites ran by Irish people this would be great also.

 We will review the contents and suitability before posting any links, so please take this into account before you send it in.

Please email links or content suggestions to iak.chair@gmail.com

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Irish Times article about moving to South Korea

Posted on January 17, 2012 by

Useful info about visa, jobs, accommodation, social etc in this article for the Irish Time’s series on Generation Emigration

http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/generationemigration/2012/01/12/destination-in-focus-south-korea/

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Embassy Message, December 28, 2011

Posted on January 2, 2012 by

Recent message from the embassy regarding immigration.

“I am writing to let you know of a change to Korean immigration procedures which will come into effect this weekend.

The Embassy has received a formal notification from the Korea Immigration Service that from the 1 January 2012 – this coming Sunday- all non-Korean nationals with some limited exceptions will be required to provide biometric information on entering the Republic of Korea.

The KIS have provided further information on their website which can be viewed here. We would recommend that view this information before travelling.

I do hope you are enjoying a peaceful Christmas period whenever you are and I wish those of you returning to Korea from abroad a safe journey.

Best regards,
Ruth Parkin/Charge d’Affaires”

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Ambassador’s Message, December 20, 2011

Posted on December 21, 2011 by

Message from the Irish embassy

“I am writing to you today following the unexpected news of Kim Jong-il’s death over the weekend. His death raises many questions which only time will answer.  As of now, the general expectation, which we at the Embassy share, is that there will be no immediate change in the policies of the DPRK.  There is no immediate necessity to take any further precautions.  We continue to recommend that all Irish people living here should register with the Embassy and strongly recommend that anyone planning to travel to North Korea register with the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy.

That said, I would draw your attention to the information on responding to emergencies issued by the Embassy last year and which are copied below and suggest that you might refresh your knowledge of the information posted on the Embassy’s website – www.embassyofireland.or.kr.

I wish you a very pleasant and peaceful Christmas and New Year.

Best wishes,

Eamonn McKee / Ambassador

Responding to Emergencies

  • The first step for Irish citizens is to ensure that your passport is up-to-date.  The second step is register with the Embassy.  Registration is simple. Click onwww.embassyofireland.or.kr and then click ‘Registering with the Embassy.’ Having information on how to send messages to you and/or to contact you is absolutely vital in the event of a sudden-onset emergency.  Based on the latest annual statistics available from the Korea Immigration Service we know that there are more than eight hundred Irish who live in the Republic of Korea and about two thirds of that figure appear on the Embassy’s Citizens’ Register.  I would urge you to encourage anyone who has not registered with the Embassy to please do so.  There may be concerns about confidentiality but I assure you that this information is not shared and is used solely by the Embassy.
  • What advice is given in an Emergency very much depends on the kind of emergency and what the authorities are doing or planning in response i.e. whether it is natural or man-made, where it is imminent or underway, whether it requires a large movement of population and so on. There is an ‘Emergency’ side bar on the Embassy’s website for general guidance.  For example in areas prone to emergencies or where there may be a need to move quickly in uncertain circumstances, it is often recommended to have a ‘grab bag’ readied containing vital documents and essential supplies (suggested items for inclusion are listed).
  • Aside obviously from monitoring ongoing situations, the Embassy stays in close touch with the EU delegation here, other missions and with the Korean authorities.  The Embassy should be your first port of call if you are seeking advice.  In an emergency if contact with the Embassy is not possible, the Department of Foreign Affairs operates a Consular Assistance Unit in Dublin which provides advice, support and assistance to Irish citizens in emergency situations and to family members in Ireland who are concerned about the welfare of an Irish citizen abroad. The Unit operates during normal Irish office hours (Monday-Friday). You can make contact with the Unit by telephoning +353 1 408 2000. Outside normal office hours, an Emergency Duty Officer is available at all other times (including weekends), 365 days a year (the contact number is the same).  The Embassy also provides a 24 hours service (010 3247 6455).  Please be advised that the Emergency Duty Officer should only be contacted in the event of a genuine emergency. If your query is not urgent, please wait until the next working day to contact the Embassy or making contact with the Consular Assistance Unit.
  • In the event of an emergency, the Department of Foreign Affairs can mobilize its Crisis Centre. It has done this on a number of occasions for example in response to 9/11and the 2006 crisis in the Lebanon. During an emergency, the Crisis Centre liaises with relevant missions abroad and national authorities, is manned 24 hours and issues free-phone numbers to members of the public in Ireland to trace relatives. The Department can also send members of staff to the site of the emergency to assist.  The Travel Advice Section of the Department’s website contains further useful information (www.dfa.ie).

I hope this information is useful and reassuring.  Please feel free to forward any comments and please also encourage anyone you know who has not registered with the Embassy to do so.

Eamonn McKee / Ambassador”

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Photos of ‘An Irish Christmas 2011′

Posted on December 21, 2011 by

Mighty night it was (who remembers the Late Late Show theme tune…?). Cheers to all who came, the musicians (Ben Rowe and David Holden, and Dara Sheahan), the Wolfhound (for the venue and spot prizes), the Irish embassy (the other spot prizes) and to all the folks who volunteered on the night to make it work. And to Sean C for the IAK stamp. Some photos (courtesy of Shauna), apologies if you have seen them on Facebook already.

 

 

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Move over to new IAK website complete

Posted on December 15, 2011 by

As you may have noticed we’ve been migrating the IAK website. We’re happy with how things are going (in particular being able to reach people on Facebook and Twitter) and so now the IAK domain www.iak.co.kr is pointing to our new website.

We’ve migrated over most of the content on the old IAK site, lots of it is quite interesting – for instance take a look at the photos and videos from St Patrick’s Festival in 2007

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Ambassador’s Message, December 1, 2011

Posted on December 6, 2011 by

You might consider participating in the poll to choose the logo that will represent Ireland’s EU Presidency in the first six months of 2013.  The poll was launched yesterday by the Tánaiste (Deputy Prime Minister) and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Eamon Gilmore T.D. and Minister of State for European Affairs, Lucinda Creighton T.D..

Voting is as easy as clicking on www.eu2013.ie where you can find details about the four logo designs. The site is hosted by Merrionstreet.ie, the Government News website.

Speaking at the launch, the Tánaiste said: “in planning the look and feel of the Presidency, I want to open up the process to everyone in selecting the logo for the Presidency, which will be the starting point for how the Presidency will present itself to all of the other Member States.”  

Also at the launch, Minister Creighton expressed the hope that people would have their say and get involved in the selection of their favourite logo: “With just over 12 months before the Presidency begins, we are asking the public to decide on the logo which they believe best represents the image we want toproject of our Presidency of the other EU MS.”

The poll will end at 5pm on 31 December with the winning design announced early in the New Year.

As for more local matters, this week the Embassy hosted the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Pat Breen T.D.  His programme on Monday was focused on how best to promote Irish trade in Asia generally and Korea particularly.

Deputy Breen met with KOTRA, the impressively resourced Korean trade promotion agency, and was briefed by Enterprise Ireland and the Embassy on Ireland’s current approach.  He also discussed trade promotion best-practice with the Ambassadors of Denmark and Belgium, the Director of the Swiss Business Hub at the Swiss Embassy and a trade expert at the EU delegation.

Deputy Breen travelled on to Busan to join the Irish delegation at the Fourth High Level Forum (HLF4) on Aid Effectiveness, and to participate in the Parliamentary Forum there.

The Irish delegation at the HLF4 Busan is headed by the Minister for State for Trade and Development, Jan O’Sullivan T.D.  As well as participating in the Forum proper, Minister O’Sullivan joined the Thematic Sessions and focused on a number of “side events” including on gender and hunger.  She met with the participating Irish NGOs and also with the heads of delegation from Ireland’s nine partner countries (where we have aid programmes – see www.irishaid.gov.ie ) to discuss the ongoing review of the White Paper on Irish Aid and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Africa Strategy.

Minister O’Sullivan travelled to Busan after her first visit to Vietnam, one of Ireland’s partner countries. During her four-day visit to Vietnam, she met a number of high level partners in the Vietnamese Government, including the Deputy Prime Minister, Hoang Trung Hai.  In addition to discussing opportunities to expand bilateral trade between Ireland and Vietnam, the Minister launched the programme of development co-operation between Ireland and Vietnam for the next five years.

Having attended the Opening Ceremony in Busan, I can attest to the hospitality and organisational capacity of our Korean hosts who managed almost 3,000 attendees and some 120 delegations, international organisations and NGOs with their customary skill and efficiency.

For more information on the Forum, the Outcome Document and the issue of aid effectiveness generally visitwww.aideffectiveness.org.

Best wishes,

Eamonn McKee / Ambassador

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IAK meeting Sun Dec 11th at 4pm in the Seoul Grand Hyatt

Posted on December 6, 2011 by
Just a reminder that we have a regular IAK meeting next Sunday Dec 11th in the business meeting rooms on the 2nd floor of the Seoul Grand Hyatt hotel. If you want anything in particular brought up just email iak.chair@gmail.com
Hope to see you there!
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