Welcome to the Hahn Moo-Sook House. The HMS House is a traditional Korean-style house which the late Hahn Moo-Sook (with a penname of Hyangjong ‘Fragrant Garden’) cherished and where she spent forty years of her life from 1953 until her death in 1993. The tile-roofed house is located near SungKyunKwan University. According to an oral history, the house was built in the early 20th century by a famous architect called Carpenter Shim, builder of great buildings of the time in Seoul. The cherry orchard that used to be next to the house has now become a huge compound for apartment buildings.

The next-door neighbor’s house in the back, also built by Carpenter Shim, has now become a building with studio apartments.

Another next-door neighbor’s house on the side has also been transformed into a multi-story building. The HMS House offers an oasis in its neighborhood, where the old fragrance of traditional houses is evaporating.

Hahn Moo-Sook’s contribution to Korean literature is well recognized. She is particularly known for her intricate psychological description and precise language, for her sense of history and identity, and for her varied and universal themes. The HMS House is the cradle for the majority of her works. The HMS House is a place where one can still feel the presence of Hahn Moo-Sook and her husband Kim Jin-Heung (with a penname of Paengnong ‘the Modest Me in the Paektong branch of the clan’), who lived and were engaged in creative work there for almost half a century. Today, I, their first son, and my wife live in this house. We do our best to commemorate our parents’ lives and to carry out their creative spirit and share their fragrance with the world.

The encouragement, guidance, and constructive advice from our visitors, lovers of literature and Korean literature in particular, give us enormous courage and strength and will be much appreciated.

Cordially,

Hoagy Kim, Director

The Hahn Moo-Sook House