Gyeonggyojang, within the Kangbuk Samsung Hospital grounds, is a Western-style residence built in the 1930s. It had an earlier owner and name, but became widely known through Kim Ku's use after liberation. Its orderly façade amid hospital buildings can hide its role in the tense politics between liberation and the Korean War.
Provisional Government leaders returned “as private individuals”
Kim Ku and colleagues from the Korean Provisional Government came home in 1945, but the United States Army Military Government did not recognize that government officially. Gyeonggyojang became a center for meetings on political strategy and a unified government. Public welcome and institutional nonrecognition existed at the same time.
North–South negotiations were an attempt to prevent permanent division
Opposing a separate government in the South, Kim traveled to Pyongyang in 1948 and participated in inter-Korean talks. Their outcome and interpretation remain debated, but they should be understood as an effort to seek unified government under Cold War conditions and American and Soviet occupation.
The site of the 1949 assassination is now interpreted for visitors
On June 26, 1949, Ahn Doo-hee shot and killed Kim Ku inside Gyeonggyojang. The restored exhibition presents his office, traces associated with the shooting, and materials on the Provisional Government. Check hours and hospital access, and do not impede patients or medical staff.
