Korean Job Discussion Forums

[wylies99]

11-21-2008 18:49
Caption for picture in article-

Hannam-dong offers great views and creature comforts for uppity foreigners living in Seoul. The picture shows housing areas with a view of the Han River. / Korea Times

Hannam-dong Is Mini Global Village in Central Seoul
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2008/11/123_34837.html
By Jane Han
Staff Reporter

Whether you're Indian, German or Thai, at Hannam Supermarket, it's not a challenge trying to shop for a dish from back home. The overwhelming variety of foreign labels and rare ingredients available at this popular neighborhood store tells something about who lives in the area.

``More than 60 percent of our regular customers are foreigners,'' said Chang Jae-chul, the shop owner, who testifies that Hannam-dong ``is really a mini globe'' with residents from all over the world.

He's right. The southern Seoul town is home to almost 2,500 foreigners, according to realtors' estimates. And many of them reside in the luxurious, highly guarded villas that easily cost above 5 to 6 million won ($3,300-$4,000) per month.

Park Sang-moon, president of Nice Rent, a property agency that specializes in leasing for foreigners, says Hannam-dong residents are largely business executives and diplomats, including some from Spain, Kuwait, Argentina and Brazil.

The town has a long history of being their favorite because of its convenient location, a wide range of available amenities, nearby foreign schools, subdued atmosphere and villa-type homes, says area brokers.

These are also reasons why people like Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee and LG Chairman Koo Bon-moo have picked Hannam-dong as home.

``Foreign residents have a close-knit community, so that seems to be one of the assets that accounts for the high rental prices,'' said Park, adding that this is also why they choose to rent pricier villas than area apartments like Hyundai Hometown and Richensia.

According to recent data, a three-bedroom villa sized around 200 sq. meter averages from 6 million won to 9 million won, with utilities and maintenance fees costing up to 1.2 million won per month. These include properties inside U.N. Village.

Kim Ok-ja, another area realtor, says these prices remained steady for the past four to five years.

``Some properties may have lost some value due to ageing, but the overall market downturn hasn't affected foreign rental prices significantly,'' she explained, adding that foreigners account for 70 percent of residency in homes specifically built to lease.

She said that Korean owners prefer lending to foreigners because monthly rents give them better returns than ``chonse,'' they rarely cause damage to homes and follow through with their contract terms.

Chonse is a unique rental system in Korea, in which a large deposit is left with the owner for typically two years and returned at the end of the contract period.

So how much would these luxury homes be for purchase?

Realtors say they start around 1 billion won and can go up as ``high as the sky.'' According to the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs, Samsung Chairman Lee's Hannam-dong home is the most expensive in the country, priced at 9.59 billion won.

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[wylies99]

[sojourner1]

It seems to me that living in a place like that is not really living in the real Korea though it might be more pleasant. Seems like it would be similar to living in an overseas US Army community. I like this sort of thing as you have more people and things that are catering to YOU in such a country as Korea that specially caters to it's own people rather than being more international oriented, but security is another issue. Of course, this apartment community is in the most international oriented part of Korea. Seems the value of paying extra to live around many other foreigners is fruitless in the long term as it's a largely transient community. I'd want the place in a guarded compound with a buffer zone of barricades to prevent a terrorist attack such as with truck bomb though someone could just C4 the basement like they did with the WTC in 1993. While a terrorist attack is much less likely in Korea than somewhere else like Africa or the Middle East, it would be a great place for a terrorist to make a surprise attack on America and the Koreans for being American allies.

However, I don't think there's as many terrorists or people out to get Americans like the way our government and media has led us to believe. I still would be conscious of being in a place commonly known for housing large numbers of Americans. Of course they want to get us in the Middle East and Africa since we caused a lot of trouble over there and they see it that we declared war against Islam.

[PeteJB]

Well theres nothing to stop you stepping out of Hannam to get a Korean experience. Besides who hangs out in their hometown that often? I rarely do anything in Sillim other than get a train.

[justaguy]

Hannam Dong is for heavily govt/corp subsidized middle class foreigners who like pretending to be rich.

[samd]

Hannam Supermarket is a joke.

I went to a supermarket in a slummy area of Beijing which had more foreign goods.

[Xuanzang]

Living there on government dime would be pretty sweet. Living there on hagwon or school pesos...no dice.

[Frankly Mr Shankly]

Why do I get the feeling some of you are sounding jealous and resentful? I'd love living there, and I bet most of you would too, if you could afford it.

[PeteJB]

You need to work on your 눈치.

[Frankly Mr Shankly]

No longer in Korea and have no desire to cultivate that which does not exist.

[PeteJB]

Ok, I'll send you a free 눈치 upgrade package.

[bobbyhanlon]

obviously someone just used a dictionary, and the native english editors aren't doing their job properly. however, the most interesting part in my opinion is:

[Xuanzang]

Utilities would set you back a pretty penny.

[Frankly Mr Shankly]

[newton kabiddles]