Shin Sang-ok

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Korean spelling
Hangeul 신상옥
Hanja 申 相 玉
Revised
Romanization 		Sin Sang-ok
McCune-
Reischauer 		Sin Sangok

Shin Sang-ok (born October 18, 1926 in Seishin , Chōsen Province , then the Japanese Empire , now North Korea , † April 11, 2006 in Seoul , South Korea ) was a South Korean film producer and director .

Career in South Korea

Shin Sang-ok was born as Shin Sōgyuku ( Japanese 申 相 玉 ) in Chōsen at the time when the Korean Peninsula was a province of Japan . He studied in Tokyo at the previous institution of the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music and then returned to Chosen.

Shin began his career as the production designer of Choi In-kyus Jayu Manse (1946; English title: Viva Freedom! ), The first South Korean post-war film. In the heyday of South Korean cinema, the 1950s and 1960s, Shin was extremely productive, directing up to two feature films in a year. His company Shin Films produced about 300 films in the 1960s.

In the 1970s, Shin's zeal for work waned parallel to a general crisis in South Korean film caused by strict censorship and attempts by the government to influence the content. Most of the films Shin produced during this period were unsuccessful. In 1978 he came into direct conflict with the military dictatorship under Park Chung-hee . After criticizing the state's censorship policy and the widespread corruption in the state apparatus , his film studio was closed.

Kidnapping to North Korea

In 1978, his ex-wife, the actress Choi Eun-hee , was kidnapped in Hong Kong and taken by sea to Namp'o in North Korea . When Shin went to Hong Kong to investigate Choi's disappearance, he suffered the same fate. Both were held separately from each other. Shin initially enjoyed particularly generous treatment in terms of the comforts of everyday life. Five months after his abduction, he attempted to escape and tried to hop on a freight train to China . However, he was discovered and spent over three months in solitary confinement. After trying to escape again, he was taken to a camp for political prisoners. After almost four years in a camp, he was released in 1983.

In March 1983, Shin and his ex-wife Choi were invited to a dinner party at Kim Jong-il's in Pyongyang . For the first time since their abduction, the former spouses met and learned that they had both faced the same fate. The kidnapping was commissioned by the future North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il, who was known to be a great lover of the cinema. He wanted Shin and Choi to produce films for North Korean cinema. Under pressure from Kim, both married again.

Shin made six films in North Korea, including Homeless , which Shin himself considered to be the best film of his career. The best-known of his North Korean films was Pulgasari , a fantasy film based on the Japanese Godzilla series.

In 1986, Shin and Choi managed to escape on a trip to Vienna , but were chased through the streets of Vienna by North Korean agents in a taxi. They applied for political asylum in the US after making it to the American embassy. The pursuers had been misled by a radio message from the taxi driver. Shin and Choi backed up their statements about the kidnapping by secretly taping conversations with Kim Jong-il.

The North Korean authorities deny Shin's kidnapping and claim that Shin came to the north voluntarily. However, Shin never accepted Kim Jong-il's offer to return to North Korea.

Activity in the USA

Shin worked in the United States under the pseudonym Simon Sheen in the 1990s . He directed the film 3 Ninjas - Fight & Fury and was the producer of 3 Ninjas - Kick Back and 3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain .

Return to South Korea

Shin initially did not want to return to South Korea, fearing problems with the state authorities, who may not believe the story of his abduction. In 1994 he returned anyway and made more films.

In 2004 Shin had a liver transplant and died two years later of hepatitis . His last film, Kyeoul-iyagi (German winter story ), which was shot in 2002, remained unreleased. Shin and his films have won the Daejongsang Prize , a South Korean film award, several times . In 2006 he was posthumously honored by South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun with the highest award for cultural workers in the Republic of Korea.

In 2007 his autobiography was published.

Filmography (selection)

in Taiwan:

  • 1976: Girls in the Tiger Cage / Woman Prisoner No. 407 ( 老虎 嶺 女子 監獄 / 여수 407 호 )
  • 1976: In the Camp of the Yellow Tigers / Girls in the Tiger Cage 2 / Revenge in the Tiger Cage / Woman Prisoner No. 407 II ( 老虎 嶺 女子 監獄 2 / 여수 407 호 (속) )

in North Korea:

in the USA:

Daejong Film Award

Best movie

  • 1962 for Yeonsangun
  • 1963 for Yeolnyeomun (English title: The Red Gate )
  • 1965 for Beongeoli Samryong ( Deaf Sam-ryong )
  • 1968 for Daewongun ( Monarch )

Best director

  • 1962 for Sarangbang Sonnimgwa Eomeoni ( My Mother and Her Guest )
  • 1965 for Beongeoli Samryong ( Deaf Sam-ryong )
  • 1968 for Daewongun ( Monarch )
  • 1972 for Pyeongyang pokgyeokdae ( Last Battle in Pyongyang )

Publications

  • Sin Sang-ok; Ch'oe Ŭn-hŭi : Uri ŭi t'alch'ul ŭn kkŭnnaji anatta: Sin Sang-ok, Ch'oe Ŭn-hŭi pirok. Seoul: Wŏlgan Chosŏn-sa 2001. ISBN 8989599229 .
  • Sin Sang-ok: Kim Chŏng-il ege ponaenŭn p'yŏnji. Sŏul-si: Haengnim Ch'ulp'an 1995. ISBN 8972924032 .
  • Sin Sang-ok: Toraoji annŭn milsa: yŏnghwa munhak. P'yŏngyang: Munye Ch'ulp'ansa 1984.

literature

  • Steven Chung: Split Screen Korea: Shin Sang-ok and Postwar Cinema . University of Minnesota Press, 2014, ISBN 978-0-8166-9133-3 .

swell

  1. ↑ Michael Breen: Kim Jong Il: North Korea's "Beloved Leader" , European Publishing House , 2004, ISBN 3434505857
  2. ^ Mark Edward Harris: Inside North Korea. Chronicle Books, 2007, ISBN 978-0-811-85751-2 , p. 64 ( limited preview in Google book search)
  3. ^ Kidnapped by North Korea. In: news.bbc.co.uk. March 5, 2003, accessed January 9, 2015 .

Web links

Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Korean. Shin is the family name here, Sang-ok is the first name.
personal data
SURNAME Shin, sang-ok
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 신상옥 (Korean, Hangeul); 申 相 玉 (Korean, Hanja); Sin, Sang-ok (Revised Romanization); Sin, Sangok (McCune-Reischauer); Shin, Sōgyuku (Japanese, maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South Korean film producer and director
DATE OF BIRTH October 18, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH Seishin , Chōsen Province, then the Japanese Empire, now North Korea
DATE OF DEATH April 11, 2006
Place of death Seoul