Shin Sang-ok

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Shin Sang-ok

Born October 18, 1926(1926-10-18)
Chongjin, Korea
Died April 11, 2006 (aged 79)
Seoul, South Korea
Other name(s) Simon Sheen
Occupation Film director
Film producer
Years active 1952–2002
Spouse(s) Choi Eun-hee
Shin Sang-ok
Hangul 신상옥
Hanja 申相玉
Revised Romanization Sin Sang(-)ok
McCune-Reischauer Sin Sangok

Shin Sang-ok (October 18, 1926 – April 11, 2006) was a prolific South Korean film producer and director, with more than 100 producer and 70 director credits. He is most famous for his being kidnapped by the North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il, for the purpose of producing critically-acclaimed films.

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[edit] South Korean period (1926–1978)

He was born in Chongjin at the northeastern part of the Korean Peninsula, at the time occupied by Japan, currently a part of North Korea. Shin studied in the Tokyo Fine Arts School, the predecessor to Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music in Japan before returning to Korea three years later.[1][2]

Shin started his film career as an assistant production designer on Choi In-kyu's Viva Freedom!, the first Korean film made after the country achieved independence from Japan. During the "Golden Age" of South Korean cinema in the late 1950s and 1960s, Shin worked prolifically, often directing two or more films per year, earning the nickname the "Prince of Korean Cinema"[3] The production company he started, Shin Films, produced around 300 films during the 1960s[2], including a Grand Bell Award-winning 1964 remake of Na Woon-gyu's 1926 Beongeoli Sam-ryong.

During the 1970s, Shin became less active, while South Korea's cinema industry in general suffered under strict censorship and constant government interference. Most of the films he directed during the period ended up being flops. After Shin ran afoul of the repressive government in 1978, General Park Chung Hee closed Shin's studio.[2]

[edit] North Korean period (1978–1986)

In 1978, actress Choi Eun-hee, recently divorced from Shin, was kidnapped from Hong Kong to North Korea. When Shin traveled to Hong Kong to investigate, he was kidnapped as well. The kidnappings were on orders of future dictator Kim Jong-il, who wanted to establish a film industry for his country to sway international opinion regarding the views of the Workers' Party of Korea.[4] The North Korean authorities have denied the kidnapping accusations, claiming that Shin came to the country willingly. Shin and his wife made secret audio tapes of conversations with Kim Jong-il, supporting their story.

Shin was put in comfortable accommodations, but, after an escape attempt, was placed in prison. He was brought to Pyongyang in 1983, to learn why he had been brought to North Korea. [4] His ex-wife was also brought to the same dinner party, where she first learned that Shin was also in North Korea. They re-married shortly afterwards, as suggested by Kim Jong-il.

From 1983 Shin directed seven films with Kim Jong-il acting as an executive producer. The best known of these films is Pulgasari, a giant-monster film similar to the Japanese Godzilla, which can be seen as a metaphor for the effects of unchecked capitalism. In 1986, eight years after his kidnapping, Shin and his wife escaped while in Vienna for a business meeting[4], before eventually fleeing to the United States, seeking political asylum.[1]

[edit] Later career (1986–2006)

Shin worked in the US in the 1990s under the pseudonym Simon Sheen, directing 3 Ninjas Knuckle Up and working as an executive producer for 3 Ninjas Kick Back and 3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain, the latter starring Hulk Hogan.

At first, Shin was reluctant to return to South Korea, because he feared that the government's security police would not believe the kidnapping story. He returned to South Korea permanently in 1994, and continued to work on new movies. His last movie as director is Kyeoul-iyagi (The Story of Winter) (2002, unreleased).

He had a liver transplant in 2004, and died of complications of hepatitis two years later. At the time of his death, he was planning Genghis Khan, a musical. South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun posthumously awarded him the Gold Crown Cultural Medal on April 12, 2006, the country's top honor for an artist.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b "Accounting practices blamed for slump in Japanese films" by Kakumi Kobayashi, Japan Times, October 13, 2000, retrieved January 26, 2006
  2. ^ a b c Biography at asianfilms.org
  3. ^ "Pleasure and Pain" by Chuck Stephens, villagevoice.com, February 27 – March 5, 2002
  4. ^ a b c "The producer from hell" by John Gorenfeld, The Guardian, April 4, 2003, retrieved January 26, 2006

[edit] See also

[edit] External links