[ Society > The Expat Life ]

  THE SEOUL CLUB

  Family friendly and a place to escape the stress of the city
  The largest and oldest of clubs catering to foreigners is the Seoul Club, which will celebrate its centenary next year. Built in its own grounds within one of Seoul¡¯s green belts in the center of the city, the club offers a full range of facilities to match those of any similar establishment anywhere in the world.

  The club now boasts two swimming pools (as of last year, an indoor pool was built to complement the outdoor facility), courts for tennis and squash, an extensive fitness center and a golf driving range. Members have a choice of private rooms for business or social purposes, as well four restaurants including an extensive main dining room and a delicatessen-cum-poolside cafe. In recognition of the growing needs of families with young children, the club also added a children¡¯s wing in 2002, with the first floor devoted to a childcare center for the under-fives, and the second story with its jungle gym, game stations and computer room to those aged from six years to 15. An outside play area located by the pool allows wee folk to expend their energies in the fresh air on fine days.

  Under the club¡¯s constitution, 51 percent of its membership places must be allocated to foreigners, and the remaining 49 percent to Koreans. The club now has over 1,300 members that include the ambassadors of 26 countries.

  ¡° We offer a family oriented, business/social environment where it is possible to make and foster cross-cultural relationships,¡± said Fred M. Pettus, the Seoul Club¡¯s general manager. ¡°You come here to have fun with people from different countries as well as Koreans.¡±

  Indeed, it was with the intention of promoting relationships between foreigners and Koreans that the colorful history of The Seoul Club began. In chartering the club in 1904, it was the intention of Emperor Kojong to provide a family, business, social and recreational facility for both the expatriate community and internationally oriented Koreans. For this purpose, the emperor turned over his personal, two-story library, located on the grounds of Doksu palace to the Club as a place for its members to socialize and cultivate friendships. Among the founding members of the Seoul Club were many Freemasons, a large number of who were gold miners by trade. The connection with Freemasonry continues to this day in the Cheesman Room where the Hanyang Lodge holds its regular meetings.

  The club was allowed to continue throughout the Japanese occupation (1910-1945) until the outbreak of the Korea War, when it was taken over by the U.S. Army who used it for a time as a barracks and military club. In 1955, six members reclaimed informal possession of the premises, which was then in the custody of the Korean Army. The club moved into the top of the Samil Building in 1971. As this was not a suitable place for sporting activities, extra facilities for squash and tennis, a swimming pool and a clubhouse were purchased at Kihung(Suwon Club) but were underutilized. In 1980, a new home was found in the Chong Keun Dang Building. Still not adequate to the member¡¯s needs, the search for a permanent home began. In 1985, the Safari Club on the eastern slope of Namsan between the Shilla and Tower hotels was purchased by the Seoul Club and remains its location today. The site has proved ideal to meet the growing and changing recreational needs of Seoul¡¯s expatriate community. ¡°We¡¯re like an American city or country club,¡± said Mr. Pettus. ¡°We have a fairly stress-free environment where you can get away from the pressures of the city.¡±

  SEOUL FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS¡¯ CLUB

  Where the worlds of journalism, politics and diplomacy meet
  The outbreak of the Korean War focused international attention on the peninsula, drawing journalists from all over the world to report on the hostilities and the uneasy peace that settled afterwards. In 1956, a handful of these reporters decided to formalize the professional and social bonds that had developed between them by forming a club.

  The Seoul Foreign Correspondents¡¯ Club(SFFC) was thus born with nine members. The intensity of interest in Korea has not abated in the intervening 50 years since hostilities ceased; it fact, it has compounded with the rise of the country to the status of an economic power and its ensuing political development. The result has been that the SFFC has grown concomitantly and is now one of the most established clubs of its kind in East Asia with over 200 members representing media of all types and from all parts of the globe.

  As the membership and its needs have grown, so have the club¡¯s location and the facilities it offers to its members. The SFCC first acquired premises in 1979 when it opened a club lounge at the Hapdong-hoeguan Building. The lounge moved to the second floor of the New Naeja Hotel in 1983 and to its present location at the 18th floor of the Korea Press Center in 1985. Situated in the very heart of the capital, the club is an excellent venue for members to relax, enjoy fine dining and work

  The newly renovated lounge is decorated with Korean antiques, embroidery and pottery and its international and Korean cuisine recently won an accolade from Luxuryma gazine. The lounge is the scene for the club¡¯s many social events that include wine-tastings, fashion shows and embassy nights. This year, the club has organized events as varied as an evening with North Korean refugees and a hiking trip with the staff of the Blue House (the national seat of government). Among the club¡¯s highest profile events are the addresses by distinguished speakers from the corporate and political spheres, both Korean and foreign. Recent speakers include Deputy Prime Minister, Kim Jin-Pyo and Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Alexander Downer.

  The club also features a workroom sponsored by Samsung Electronics where members have access to an array of top-of-the line computers with high-speed, broadband connection with which they can surf the Internet, check e-mail and file stories. There is also a wide-screen HD TV, plus a dual DVD and VHS player. While the majority of those who belong to the SFCC are serving correspondents for overseas news channels (current president Ms. Sohn Ji-Ae is manager of CNN¡¯s Seoul bureau), the club also offers special memberships to the diplomatic community and members of the domestic press.

  A unique forum where ideas and opinions can be exchanged with personalities from the worlds of journalism, business and government, the Seoul Foreign Correspondents¡¯ Club reflects in all its variety the vibrancy and internationalism of Korea¡¯s capital today.

  BROUGHTON¡¯S CLUB

  For that authentic British pub atmosphere
  A true slice of the British way of life may be sampled every Friday evening at the British Embassy Seoul, where it plays host to Broughton¡¯s Club in the building¡¯s lowerfloor Aston Hall. Open to everyone on an approved membership basis, the facilities of the hall including a bar, comfortable seating, and a selection of British and local beers together with wines and spirits, conspire with that indefinable entity, ¡°atmosphere¡± to create the ambience of a public house one might find anywhere in the British Isles.

  ¡°The club does have that convivial, home-away-from home pub¡¯ kind of atmosphere that is very relaxing,¡± said club treasurer and the embassy¡¯s economic officer, Phil Ellis. ¡°It¡¯s a place where people can feel free to enjoy themselves as they would in a pub in Britain.¡± Mr. Ellis explained that the club is part of a tradition that British embassies around the world have of providing amenities where their employees and the local expatriates can socialize. ¡°The Red Herring¡± in Brussels and ¡°The Bell¡± in Beijing are organized on the same lines.

  Operating since 1992 when the present embassy building was opened, the club (formerly the British Club, Seoul) was recently renamed to commemorate one of the earliest British visitors to Korea. Captain William Robert Broughton in command of HMS Providence docked in Busan harbor in 1797 during a hydrographic voyage to the Pacific Northwest for much-needed supplies, and in the process made the first official contact between Korea and Britain. In response to his request, local magistrates furnished the ship with wood, water, salt, rice, fish and seaweed, all free of charge; in response, Capt. Broughton presented them with his flintlock pistol.

  Broughton¡¯s Club, where images of British icons from the Beatles to scenes from the movie The Full Monty decorate the walls, continues the same spirit of amity between the British and their hosts as manifested by the club¡¯s large number of Korean members who attend as regulars. In fact, the membership is composed of a broad cross-section of nationalities, the result, said Mr. Ellis of the policy of ¡°encouraging the club to be as cosmopolitan as possible.¡±