Nowadays Korean dramas have become a sensation around the globe. Local Korean dramas became the healer of the people across the border. And the masterminds are the director who gives every script a push and takes it to the hearts of the viewers. Today I will talk about some of these top KDrama directors who directly played an important role in making Korean dramas a global phenomenon. Let’s celebrate some of those directors who have defined certain genres and made Kdramas easy to connect with.
How Directors Influence the Success of K-Dramas
Every director has their own characteristics, but some characteristics influence a drama to be loved by the fans, and those characteristics are:
- Storytelling techniques and script interpretation
- Bringing Scripts to Life
- Unique plot devices
- Visual aesthetics and cinematography
- Casting choices and actor guidance
- Mastery of pacing and scene composition
- Signature moments in K-Dramas
- Use of music and sound
- Symbolic scenes and themes
- Directorial choices for international viewership
- Setting trends in K-Drama
These are the most important qualities of a director that directly influence the success of a drama.
Top 10 Influential K-Drama Directors
Let’s talk about Korea’s top most directors who played a significant role in making Korean dramas a comfortable place for the viewers and making their dramas one of the most memorable projects of all time.
Kim Won Seok
Born: 1977
Known For: My Mister, Signal
Style: Suspenseful plots and deep emotional narratives.
Kim Won Seok started his career as an assistant director in 2001 for the KBS network. In 2010 he directed his first television drama series called Sungkyunkwan Scandal as a production director. And for this drama, he won the 47th Baeksang Arts Award as a new television director and the 4th Korea Drama Award as the Best Production Director. In 2011 Kim Woo Seok left KBS and signed with CJ E&M which owns both Mnet and tvN cable channels. Under his new label, his first project was a music video for the renowned reality show Superstar K3 with the title of Superstar K3:The Beginning. In 2013 he directed Monstar, which was Mnet’s first ever musical drama. He launched many rookie actors that year and Kang Ha Neul is one of them.
In 2014 Kim Won Seok directed a workplace comedy called Misaeng, based on a webtoon, that was an unexpected super hit of that time. Misaeng won the Daesang that year at the 9th Cable TV Broadcasting Awards, and Kim Woo Seok beat all the nominees and won the 51st Baeksang Art Awards as the Best Television Director. Based on a true serial killing story in 2016, Kim Woo Seok directed the drama Signal, which was the ultimate superhit of Kim Woo Seok. Signal won many awards including the 52nd Baeksang Award as the Best Drama of the Year.
After that, for a few years, he worked under Studio Dragon and later for personal reasons he resigned from that company and currently he is under Baram Pictures.
Lee Eung Bok
Born: 1972
Known For: Goblin, Descendants of the Sun and Sweet Home
Style: Master of fantasy romance with stunning cinematography.
Lee Eung Bok started his career in 2001 in television passing the 28th PD Public Recruitment at KBS channel, in the drama department. Hometown of Legends – Forbidden Books is the first work of Lee Eung Bok.
In his whole career, he directed so many A-rated dramas like Dream High, School 2013, Secret Love, Mr. Sunshine and others but the most iconic drama he directed is Goblin and Descendants of the Sun. In 2020 directed Sweet Home which was his life’s first Netflix original. He started his career with KBS, but he left KBS in 2016 and joined CJ E&M Entertainment and started working on Goblin under tvN which was a tremendous success of both Lee Eung Bok’s career as a director and also influenced the viewership of Korean Dramas of all time. Just in two episodes, this drama surpassed 10% of viewership.
Park Chan Wook
Born: 1963
Known For: Old Boy, The Handmaiden
Style: Dark, psychologically complex storytelling.
Park Chan Wook is not only a director but also a screenwriter, a producer and also a formal film critic. He started his career in 1992 with the film The Moon is …the Sun’s Dream. Five years later he launched his second film called Trio. His starting career was not shining at all. But in 2000 when he directed the Joint Security Area, he got his cherished recognition. After the notable success of JSA, he finally got to show his creative freedom which resulted in Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance in 2002, Oldboy in 2003, Lady Vengeance in 2005 and other masterpieces including The Handmaiden in 2015. In his whole career, he got uncountable awards and also brought recognition for Korea.
To be noted, the famous American director Quentin Taranto is a big fan of Park Chan Wook. He himself pushed Oldboy to be awarded with the Palme d’Or award and this movie also got the Grand Prix award, which is the second highest honored award of the Cannes.
Shin Won Ho
Born: 1975
Known For: Reply Series, Hospital Playlist
Style: Slice-of-life narratives with heartwarming character-driven plots.
Shin Won Ho is a popular South Korean director and TV producer. After being selected to the KBS in the 27th KBS Open Recruitment he started working for KBS as a staff member and later was promoted to the position of an assistant director in the variety show department. Throughout his career from 2002, he directed so many reality shows like, Declaration of Freedom Today is Sunday – The War of Roses, Kung Kung Ta, Star Golden Bell, Heroine 6 and other reality shows as an assistant director or a main director under KBS. But in 2011 he resigned from KBS and joined CJ B&M.
After joining CJ B&M Shin Won Ho directed and produced many other reality shows but also started his career in making drama series along with reality shows. He made the iconic Reply series and later made some collaboration projects like the Prisons Playbook and Hospital Playlist series. In 2023, Shin Won Ho signed CJ E&M’s new subsidiary company Eggs is Coming.
Ahn Pan Seok
Born: 1961
Known For: One Spring Night, Something in the Rain
Style: Realistic romance and mature themes.
Ahn Pan Seok started his career under the drama production of MBC. He worked as an assistant director of Humble Men and My Mother’s Sea in 1991 and 1993. Fifteen years later he debuted as a main director with the melodramatic film Over the Border in 2006 and this movie was a success. In his whole life, he gave the Korean drama industry some awesome projects and he continued to hold a prestigious place in the film industry. As his specialty is realistic romance, his works are highly praised by a particular part of viewers who prefers realistic love like One Spring Night, Something in the Rain or the recent Midnight Romance in Hagwon to the exaggerated romantic dramas.
Hong Jong Chan
Born: 1976
Known For: Dear My Friends, Life
Style: Deep human connections and intricate character dynamics.
Hong Jong Chan started his directing career as a co-director under MBC in 2007. Later he shined his career with some unforgettable dramas like Doctor Stranger, Dear My Friends, Her Private Life, My Secret Hotel, Life, Link: Eat, Love, Kill and many more. In 2022 he gave his first Netflix original Juvenile Justice.
At present, he is working under a production house of Studio Dragons. He is a director who understands the writer so well and gives the best result of the script.
Park Joon-hwa
Born: 1976
Known For: What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim, Because This Is My First Life
Style: Lighthearted, humorous romantic comedies.
As lighthearted romantic dramas have the most viewers, director Park Joon Hwa didn’t disappoint the audience. He achieved his success by focusing on portraying relatable characters, Character development and believable storylines rather than fantasy. He has a huge fan base among the young audience for his dramas like This is My First Life, What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim, Touch Your Heart and so on. He also produced some fantasy dramas like Let’s Fight the Ghost and Alchemy of Souls.
Lee Na Jeong
Born: 1978
Known For: Fight for My Way, Love Alarm
Style: Youthful energy with relatable themes.
Lee Na Jeong started her career as an assistant director in 2011 with the drama It’s Only You under KBS. In 2013 for the first time she got to direct a drama as a main director. A few years later she left KBS and signed for Studio Dragon. Here she started working with the drama Love Alarm, based on a webtoon. Season 1 of Love Alarm was a hit but the second season was criticized a lot, but this time Lee Na Jeong did not direct it. However, Love Alarm was the first ever drama that was streamed on Netflix.
In her career, she gave this industry so many hits from her debut to the present time as a main director or co-director, such as, The Innocent Man, Oh My Venus, Fight for My Way, Mine, See You in My 19th Life and so on and won so many prestigious awards.
Yoon Seong Sik
Born: 1970
Known For: Hwarang, Bridal Mask, Mr. Queen
Style: Historical dramas with dynamic action and complex plots.
Yoon Seong Sik is a talented director who started his directing career in 2005 under KBS with the drama series Drama City. He is mostly known for his work on history-based dramas with the blending of multi-layered plots and well developed characters. Throughout his working career, he brought out so many dramas that brought honor as well as audiences from both inside and outside of Korea. The most notable milestones of his career are Bridal Musk, Hwarang and Mr. Queen. In his dramas, he mostly blends history, action, suspense and tradition with romance, youth and humor. His work is mostly popular among the audience who likes period dramas.
Jeong Ji Hyeon
Known For: The King: Eternal Monarch, You Are My Spring, Mr. Sunshine (co-directed)
Style: blending romance, suspense, and fantasy elements.
Director Jeong Ji Hyeong is not only a director but also known as a screenwriter. But as a director, he started his career in directing not so ago, in 2018, as a co-director with the drama Mr. Sunshine. Later he proved himself as an independent director with dramas like Search: WWW in 2019, The King: Eternal Monarch in 2020, You Are My Spring in 2021, Twenty-Five Twenty-One in 2022, Lies Hidden in My Garden in 2023 and very recently with the drama Dear Hyeri in 2024. You can notice his versatility in his storytelling. Along with the story he also focuses on the visual and cinematography that appeal to the audience more and more to like the particular dramas he makes.
In conclusion, we can say the directors have an undeniable role to play to make a drama globally loved by the audiences. They shape the form of a drama and make it a likable one. Each director has a unique and different style of storytelling that makes the dramas different from the usual. Some directors focus on the thriller, some on romance and some on fantasy and together they define genres. Their innovative storytelling and their capability of finding the effective casts for particular characters is so amazing. They also establish K-Dramas as a prominent force in global entertainment and set a high bar for the future of the industry to follow.