“I didn’t think it would be a debut. I was dazzled because I had given up for the last few years,” said director Kim Hee-jin (age 38) of Nexflix film “My Name is Loh Kiwan” in a press conference held on March 5, sharing how she felt after making her debut as a director of her first feature film. Kim, who only directed three short films, including “School Excursion (2010)”, had worked for a long time as a scenario writer. She was offered to direct “My Name Is Lo Kiwan” in 2017, but the making of the film was slow due to casting and investment issues.
The production took off as soon as Netflix decided to invest in the movie and cast actor Song Joong-ki. The movie topped the list of non-English movies as soon as it was released on Netflix on March 1, thanks to the high level of global attention on human rights issues of North Korean defectors. “It took a very long time to reach the end of the tunnel," said Kim. "The opportunity to debut as a director doesn’t come easy."
Such “hidden champions” are emerging in Korea’s content industry, driven by the global interest in Korean culture. New creators who did not make it big at home have gained the spotlight outside Korea. According to Netflix, one out of five Korean original content published between 2022 and 2025 was created by new directors. For example, director Min Hong-nam had only directed a short film titled “Maybe I Should Just Go to the Hospital (2005)” and mostly worked as a director staff or co-director before directing the Netflix drama “The Bequeathed.” Director Heo Myeong-hang of the movie “Badland Hunters,” released on Netflix in January of this year, was a martial arts director and stunt actor.
Hidden champions are also making it on the literature scene as well. According to the Korean Publishing Culture Association, the number of cases related to intellectual property rights at the Seoul International Book Exhibition jumped by eight-fold from 115 in 2022 to 944 in 2023. “Last year, I was reached out by forty overseas publishing companies, of which more than 60% were related to purchase inquiries,” said CEO Joo Yeon-seon of publishing company EunHaengNamu. "Until now, the Seoul International Book Exhibition was a venue for global publishing houses to sell their books, but now it’s a place where they come to sell them."
이호재 記者 hoho@donga.com
