First, take a look at the ginkgo tree there. That ginkgo tree in such a narrow space between buildings has been there for centuries. I’ve heard that it was the residence of General Gwon Yul, the provincial military marshal who controlled the army in wartime during Japanese invasions of Korea between 1592 and 1598. The name of the town, Haengchon-dong, has a ginkgo tree in it. '' The district came to be when Eunhaeng-dong and Sinchon-dong merged together, and Eunhaeng-dong was named as such because of this ginkgo tree.

I still cannot forget the day when I first saw this tree. One day, my husband and I took a walk around Hanyang fortress trail. When we encountered this tree, we were climbing down by the fortress wall of Inwangsan Mountain.

With a height of 30 meters, the tree was so huge that you would need two people to embrace the trunk. I just loved it. Since then, I called it 'our tree.' I was determined to build a house of our own here someday. I used to come here frequently and look down at the city of Seoul with this ginkgo tree next to me.

And in 1923, my dream came true. It’s the red brick house behind you, called '' Dilkusha.

Dilkusha is a Persian word meaning ‘the palace of heart’s delight.' When we went to India, we saw the ruin of an old palace and decided to name our house '' Dilkusha in the future. But I hadn’t the slightest idea that it would be here in Joseon.

Because of the Joseon Shrine that was built by the Japanese on the skirt of Namsan Mountain, we couldn't build our house on higher ground than the shrine. Nevertheless, Dilkusha was a big house situated in the second-highest place in Seoul, after Joseon Shrine.

To understand how I felt at the time, you must erase all those tall buildings you see in front of you from your mind, one after another. Do that, and you will only see the old fortress walls and hills, and Namsan Mountain and Inwangsan Mountain on the other side. Oh, this ginkgo tree would also be standing tall right in front of it.

Can you see how it was when Dilkusha was first built? It was quite a sight to see. Haha.

Thanks to the recent efforts of many people, Dilkusha's interiors were restored to the state when I was living in it. Some of the decorations include my paintings of some honest and good Joseon people whom I have met in person. And don't forget to look for the amber necklace that connected Albert and I with Joseon.

Albert proposed to me with a large amber necklace, saying that people of Joseon, too, cherish amber.
The past glories of Dilkusha were restored thanks to the cornerstone that has the name Dilkusha on it. It also made it possible for my son Bruce, who must be in his old age by now, to visit the house of his childhood.

In fact, Bruce has a special relationship with Korea. It was 1919. At that time, I was hospitalized in Severance Hospital near Seoul Station to give birth to him. Albert, a correspondent of A.P. News of the U.S., was preparing to cover the royal funeral of Emperor Gojong, the day before the March First Independence Movement.

My son Bruce was born on February 28th while I was wondering why there were so many Japanese soldiers inside and outside of the hospital. In a flurry of activity, the nurse stuck a bunch of paper under my bed and disappeared. I only realized the presence of those papers when Albert entered the room.

It was the Korean Declaration of Independence. I can still recall Albert's expression when he saw it. He seemed to be more in awe than when he held our son Bruce for the first time. To be honest, I was kind of sad to see that.

That night, my brother-in-law Bill hid the Korean Declaration of Independence and Albert's article in the heels of his shoes and left for Tokyo. It was to send them to A.P. News via telegraph. That was how they could send an article on the March First Independence Movement that declared the independence of Korea overseas.

After that, Albert spread the news of the March First Independence Movement as well as the royal funeral of King Gojong to the world as a correspondent of A.P. News. In April, he also covered the incident of the massacre of 29 Joseon people at a church at Jeam-ri in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi-do, and the burning of the village by the Japanese Military Police.

It was truly amazing to see Korean people hurraying for their independence with bare hands before the Japanese soldiers armed with knives and rifles. They established the Provisional Government of Korea at Shanghai, China.

Seeing such a resolution, I believed that the Japanese colonial rule would not last long.

Now, I believe I've said enough about Dilkusha. Shall we take a look inside Dilkusha for a moment? As you can see, it has been restored to resemble the house we lived in. It looks like a small museum. Please see how our family lived back in the day. We will go to the next destination after that.

A short walk along the alley between and the ginkgo tree will take you to a small red brick house. We'll be heading there next.