Born in Changsong, Cheollanam-do, 2 May 1936. He grew up in the southern city Kwangju, where he completed senior high school. His family suffered considerable hardships and losses in the Korean War, so he had to move to Pusan in search of work: he was a labourer before trying to start a business recycling US Army boots into shoes. He moved to Seoul in 1956, where a film director Chung Chang-Hwa offered him work as a production assistant in exchange for room and board. Five years later Chung recommended him as a director, and he completed his first feature in 1962. He was a prolific director of films in various popular genres until the late 1970s but felt a deepening urge to make more serious films that first found in outlet in his 1978 film, Jokbo (1979) (Genealogy). Since 1981's Mandala (1981), he has been considered Korea's leading director. He and his films have won every possible prize in Korea's three annual film awards ceremonies, and a growing number of international festival prizes too. His film La chanteuse de pansori (1993) (is the most honoured Korean film ever made, with (to date) 27 domestic and three international prizes; it was also an enormous success in the Korean market.
