By Chung Min-uck
The Seoul Garden Club, a group of spouses of foreign ambassadors here, held a tree-planting event at the residence of German Ambassador Hans-Ulrich Seidt in Seoul Friday to raise awareness on environmental protection in Korea.
The group planted four trees, two of which were to commemorate the two long-standing members ― Eva Vargo and Bjorg Skorstad, wives of the Swedish and Norwegian envoys who will leave Korea soon.
“We promote anything related to Korean garden and nature. One of the things we have done for years was to plant trees,” said Marita Seidt, wife of the German ambassador, who heads the group.
The previous tree-planting event took place in 2007 where the members planted trees at the Camellia Garden in Cheollipo Arboretum in South Chungcheong Province as a part of commemorative activities for the club’s 50th anniversary.
The group has 36 active members, including 16 Koreans.
“Many people from various nations and fields gather with one thing in common ― to save the environment,” said the co-vice president Kim Chong-sook.
The club was originally founded by the U.S. ambassador’s wife back in 1957.