Korean movie director Shin Sang-ok died at the age of 80 from a chronic liver disease at the Seoul National University Hospital on April 11(Tuesday). The renowned director Kim lived his life in as dramatic terms as a movie.
Director Shin had been receiving medical treatment since he underwent a liver transplant in 2004. He is survived by his wife and actress Choi Un-hee, two sons and two daughters.
Recalling her husband Shin, actress Choi remarked, "My husband is a man who neither smoked nor drank, and often wanted to enjoy his remaining years, traveling across the world". She added that she was in deep grief because Shin died without doing what he wanted.
Shin has been recognized as a movie director who has made significant contributions to the development of Korean film industry and establishing its identity, producing a number of remarkable films, including the movie "Houseguest and My Mother", in 1960s.
Shin was born in 1926 in Cheongjin, North Hamgyeong Province, which now under sovereignty of North Korea. In 1945, he graduated from the Tokyo Fine Arts School, predecessor to Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music in Japan.
Shin started his dramatic movie career as an assistant production designer for Choi In-kyu's "Viva Freedom!", the first Korean film made after the country achieved independence from Japan.
Shin made his debut as a director with "Akya" (The Evil Night) in 1952 in the midst of the Korean War.
IN 1953,he married to Choi, a popular movie actress.
Shin set up the movie production company "Shin Films" in 1963 and operated it until 1970. Shin directed about 70 movies during his entire life. Among those films is the movie "Houseguest and My Mother" which made him get a spotlight as a movie director.
The movie, which is set in the 1920s, draws the picture of a widow's role in Korean culture and shows an example of the definition of a woman's marriage in Korean society. It starts with three women living in the country under the same roof: a young widow, her daughter, and her mother-in-law.
One day, a painter from Seoul comes to stay with them, claiming to be a good friend of the widow's late husband. The widow's daughter quickly forms a strong bond with the painter. Warm feelings begin to grow between him and the widow, but her mother-in-law does not want to share these sentiments. The film suggests a critical view of her choice and the Confucian world-view encourages her to sacrifice her own happiness for the sake of an antiquated custom.
Shin was kidnapped to North Korea from Hong Kong in July 1978, six months after his wife was reported missing in the same country. His wife was taken to the North from her hotel in January of the same year. The couple was forced to make movies in the North and tour Russia, East Germany, Czech, and Hungary, praising the greatness of the North Korean leader Kim Il-sung's family. However, the two escaped from North Korea, and came back to South Korea in 1986
His wife Choi used to be a popular actress in the old days. Choi, aged 76, has won numerous awards for her outstanding acting in the past. She was seen in a variety of Korean TV dramas and movies starting from the late 1950s. The married couple Shin and Choi constructed and currently operates Anyang Shin Institute in the Republic of Korea.
Before he was hospitalized, Shin was working on a film featuring the historic conqueror Genghis Khan, according to his wife. He had planned to produce the film since 1995, and its screenplay has been written. It would have been his last work.
By Ahra Cho
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