Pulgasari is an epic monster film Shin Sang-ok directed and produced in 1985 during his abduction in North Korea. A co-production between North Korea, Japan, and China, it is considered a remake of Bulgasari, a lost 1962 South Korean film that also depicts an eponymous creature from Korean folklore. The ensemble cast includes Chang Sŏnhŭi, Ham Kisŏp, Ri Chongguk, Ri Ingwŏn, and Yu Kyŏngae, with Kenpachiro Satsuma in the title role. Set during the Goryeo dynasty, the film follows a blacksmith's daughter who brings to life a metal-eating monster her late father envisioned to defeat the monarchy.
Shin Sang-ok was a South Korean filmmaker with more than 100 producer and 70 director credits to his name. While renowned internationally for directing Pulgasari (1985), Shin is best known in South Korea for his efforts during the 1950s and 60s, many of them collaborations with his wife Choi Eun-hee, when he was known as "The Prince of South Korean Cinema". He posthumously received the Gold Crown Cultural Medal, the country's top honor for an artist.
Choi Eun-hee was a South Korean actress, who was one of the country's most popular stars of the 1960s and 1970s. In 1978, Choi and her then ex-husband, movie director Shin Sang-ok, were abducted to North Korea, where they were forced to make films until they sought asylum at the U.S. embassy in Vienna in 1986. They returned to South Korea in 1999 after spending a decade in the United States.
The cinema of North Korea began with the division of Korea and has been sustained since then by the ruling Kim dynasty. Kim Il Sung and his successor Kim Jong Il were both cinephiles and sought to produce propaganda films based on the Juche ideology.
Taejo Wang Geon is a 2000 Korean historical period drama. Directed by Kim Jong-sun and starring Choi Soo-jong in the title role of King Taejo. The drama aired from April 1, 2000, to February 24, 2002, in 200 episodes. The scene dealing with the end of Gungye gained a lot of popularity, recording the highest viewership rating of 60.4% in the metropolitan area.
A Flower in Hell is a 1958 South Korean film directed by Shin Sang-ok. For her performance in the film, Shin's wife, Choi Eun-hee was given the Best Actress award at the 2nd Buil Film Awards. During the Korean War, director Shin Sang-ok had shared an apartment with a prostitute in order to live more comfortably rather than sharing a one-room evacuation apartment with several families, giving him insight in the subject of the film.
South Korean literature is literature written or produced in South Korea following the division of Korea into North and South in 1945. South Korean literature is primarily written in Korean.
On the Art of the Cinema is a 1973 treatise by the North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. It is considered the most authoritative work on North Korean filmmaking.
Operation Chromite or Battle for Incheon: Operation Chromite in US, is a 2016 South Korean spy war film co-written and directed by John H. Lee. It is a fiction based on a true story of Operation X-ray by ROK Navy Intelligence Unit and Operation Trudy Jackson by US Military Intelligence Unit, depicts espionages which took charge for preparatory stage of Operation Chromite in Korean War.
The abduction of Shin Sang-ok and Choi Eun-hee occurred in North Korea between 1978 and 1986. Shin Sang-ok was a famous South Korean filmmaker who had been married to actress Choi Eun-hee. Together, they established Shin Film and made many films through the 1960s which garnered recognition for South Korea at various film festivals. In 1978, Choi was abducted in Hong Kong and taken to North Korea to the country's future supreme leader Kim Jong Il. The abduction of Shin followed six months later.
Heading to the Ground, also known as No Limit is a 2009 South Korean television series starring Jung Yun-ho, Go Ara, Lee Yoon-ji, and Lee Sang-yoon. It aired on MBC on Wednesdays to Thursdays at 21:55 for 16 episodes beginning September 9, 2009.
Choe Ik-gyu, also known under the pseudonym Choe Sang-gun, is a North Korean film director, propagandist, and politician.
An Emissary of No Return is a 1984 North Korean historical drama film directed by Shin Sang-ok and Choi Eun-hee. Shin also wrote the script. It was the first of four films Shin and Choi made during their abduction to North Korea under the orders of Kim Jong Il. Adapted from Bloody Conference(혈분만국회 ), a play allegedly written by Kim Il Sung during his guerrilla years, the film retells the dramatized story of the Hague Secret Emissary Affair. The affair ensued when the Korean emperor king Gojong sent three unauthorized emissaries to the talks of the Hague Convention of 1907.
Salt is a 1985 North Korean tragedy film directed by Shin Sang-ok. It is the third of Shin's North Korean films after he and his wife Choi Eun-hee were abducted and brought to the country against their will. Choi stars in Salt as an unnamed mother who disapproves of her son after he runs away with guerrillas, but eventually comes to see them as fighting for a just cause. The film is set in 1930s Kando (Jiandao) where ethnic Koreans are persecuted by the Chinese and Japanese.
Runaway is a 1984 North Korean melodrama film directed by Shin Sang-ok. It was the second film in North Korea by South Korea's Shin after he and his wife Choi Eun-hee had been abducted there. Runaway stars Choe Sang-soo as the protagonist and Choi as his wife.
West Palace is a 1995 South Korean television series starring Lee Young-ae, Kim Kyu-chul and Lee Bo-hee. It aired on KBS2 from July 7 to December 26, 1995, on Mondays and Tuesdays at 21:40 for 52 episodes.
Daemyeong is a 1981 South Korean television series starring Kim Dong-hoon, Kim Heung-ki, Seo Young-jin, Won Mi-kyung, Kim Sung-won and Baek Il-sub. It aired on KBS1 from January 5, 1981 until December 28, 1981 every Mondays for 52 episodes.
