Director and screenwriter. He started his career as an extra on film sets, slowly making his way up to a director. He made his debut in 1962 when he directed the war film Dumanganga jal itgeola (Farewell to the Duman River, 1962). In the 1960’s and 1970’s he directed numerous films of different popular genres. His desire to make more serious films and his distinctive artistic signature became apparent in the film Sangroksu (The Evergreen Tree, 1978). The milestone of his career was the film Mandala (1981). Iimportant films from this period of his career are Gilsodeum (1986), Ticket (1986) and Sibaji (The Surrogate Woman, 1987). Since 1989 and the film Aje aje bara aje (1989) he has started working for the Taeheung film studio. He achieved great success at the box offices with his action film Janggunui adeul (General's Son, 1990) after which he directed its two sequels in 1991 and 1992 (Janggunui adeul II and III). He achieved an even bigger commercial success with his music drama Seopyeonje (Sopyonje, 1993). For the drama Chihwaseon (Drunk on Women and Poetry, 2002) he won the Best Director Award at the Cannes Film Festival in 2002 (together with Paul Thomas Anderson for Punch-Drunk Love, 2002). Three years later, at the Berlin Film Festival, he was awarded the Honorary Golden Bear as a lifetime achievement award. Currently his last film is the drama Dal-bit gil-eo-ol-li-gi (Hanji, 2011).