South Korean GAA club say they are going nowhere

Kim Jong-un may be telling foreigners they should depart South Korea, but one GAA team has no intention of leaving for the time being.

By Declan Whooley

Seoul Gaels were set-up in 2002 following the World Cup when many Irish arrived and stayed in South Korea, but club chairman Tom Gaughan has said that the 65 club members will be carrying on with their business as usual.

“I’m not one bit worried at the moment. If the embassy asked us to leave then I would, but I don’t feel in any danger,” he told The Irish Sun.

Irish Ambassador to Korea Eamonn McKee did issue a statement to the 1,200-strong Irish community there regarding the “current concerns about safety”, but stopped short of telling them to leave the country.

Seoul Gaels

Gaughan says they do not fell they are in any danger yet, and that at this stage it is just posturing from the North Korean leader.

“It is all just North Korean rhetoric. There are 30,000 US soldiers here and the North have not mobilised their army yet,” he added.

The GAA, really and truly at the Seoul of Irish folk abroad.