Kim Eun Sook, one of Korea's most celebrated television screenwriters, has long been applauded for her crowd-pleasing romantic stories in fascinating and unpredictable settings. From the classic Lovers trilogy to the recent Netflix blockbuster The Glory, Kim Eun Sook has enjoyed unparalleled success with the majority of her dramas since the very start of her career.

Before the release of The Glory Part 2 on March 10, let's take a look back at the extraordinary filmography of Kim Eun Sook over the past two decades.



1. South of the Sun (2003)
Kim Eun Sook made her screenwriting debut in 2003 with the SBS drama South of the Sun co-written with Kang Eun Jung. Directed by Kim Su Ryong, the 16-episode weekend series was an early indicator of Kim Eun Sook's knack for romantic melodrama. The classic tale of love, betrayal and revenge draws in romantics with a taboo relationship and the poetic notion of analog encounters in a digital age. Choi Min Soo plays the incarcerated Kang Sung Jae whose letters to his girlfriend get wrongly delivered to Jung Hyeon Hee (Choi Myung Gil). Despite being in prison, Sung Jae forges a connection with Hyeon Hee, who feels lonely and alienated from a loveless marriage, and their relationship blooms through letter writing. However, their love against the odds is further complicated by Sung Jae's drive for revenge and the return of his former lover.



2. Lovers in Paris (2004)
With just her second drama, Kim Eun Sook hit it big to the tune of 56.3% viewership rating. Her first of many collaborations with director Shin Woo Chul, Lovers in Paris spins a fairy tale romance in the city of love. Kim Jung Eun plays aspiring filmmaker Kang Tae Young who meets the wealthy Han Ki Joo (Park Shin Yang) while working as a housekeeper for him in Paris. Though they part on sour terms, they fall in love after encountering each other again in Korea. This Cinderella love story, aired a few months after Dae Jang Geum, is a representative early title of the Korean Wave, and won the Grand Prize and Best Screenplay at the 41st Baeksang Arts awards. Lovers in Paris is one of only a handful of post-2000s dramas to have cracked the 50% viewership rating benchmark, with its final episode rating ranking in Korea's top 15 of all time. It also has a notorious ending that is still frequently referenced to this day.



3. Lovers in Prague (2005)
Building on the staggering success of Lovers in Paris, Kim Eun Sook and director Shin Woo Chul replicated the golden formula of serendipitous romance in a picturesque European locale with Lovers in Prague the following year. Acclaimed actress Jeon Do Yeon, whose career shifted mostly to the silver screen after this drama, plays a foreign affairs officer – and the daughter of the South Korean president. The late Kim Joo Hyuk plays a police detective who heads to Prague in search of his ex-girlfriend. After crossing paths in Prague, the two develop an unlikely friendship that blooms into love, despite their vastly different social backgrounds and persistent exes. Though not as big as Lovers in Paris, Lovers in Prague was very much a hit in its own right, reaching viewership ratings of over 30% and winning Jeon Do Yeon the Grand Prize at the SBS Drama Awards.



4. Lovers (2006)
For the third and final installment of Kim Eun Sook's Lovers trilogy, the overseas setting was moved to Sanya in China's Hainan Island, which is known for its beaches and resorts. Lovers in Paris heroine Kim Jung Eun returns to play a plastic surgeon who has a large family of siblings adopted by her minister father. Lee Seo Jin, on the other hand, portrays an orphan who works for the gang boss who raised him. Meeting over a misunderstanding, the warm doctor – who vehemently dislikes gangsters – gradually melts the heart of the cold gangster, but many differences and obstacles lie between them, driving them both together and apart.



5. On Air (2008)
Kim Eun Sook set her fifth drama in a world she knows all too well: behind the scenes of a K-Drama. Revolving around the personal and professional lives of a star, a manager, a PD and a writer, On Air is filled with realistic details about the ins, outs and oh-so-much drama of Korean television production. As fitting, the series rolls out big names with Kim Ha Neul as the top actress with a headstrong streak, Lee Bum Soo as the down-and-out manager she switches to, Park Yong Ha as the new director with new ideas, and Song Yoon Ah as the eccentric screenwriter of clichéd hits, not to mention a slew of celebrity cameos. Proving that Kim Eun Sook's brand goes beyond the Lovers franchise, On Air was well-received by critics and audiences alike.



6. The City Hall (2009)
In Kim Eun Sook and Shin Woo Chul's fifth project, the screenwriter turned her focus and setting to the political and romantic world of The City Hall, and the amusing happenings between two public servants. Shin Mi Rae (Kim Sun Ah), a low-ranking clerk, works at the city hall of a remote city. She performs menial tasks like serving coffee to officials, but she's always dreamed of climbing the ranks. Her life turns upside down after a series of unexpected events lead to her eventually becoming the youngest mayor of the town. Despite having no political background, she sincerely cares about people over politics, and leads the city to a brighter future with the help of ambitious deputy mayor Jo Gook (Cha Seung Won), who is determined to be the president one day.



7. Secret Garden (2010)
Secret Garden, one of the most popular Korean romance dramas of the 2010s, swept four awards at the Baeksang Arts Awards including Best Drama, Best Screenplay and the Grand Prize for Hyun Bin. Arrogant CEO Kim Joo Won (Hyun Bin) visits his cousin, Hallyu star Oska (Yoon Sang Hyun), on set in order to help clear up a scandal. He meets strong and independent stuntwoman Gil Ra Im (Ha Ji Won) by chance and starts to develop feelings for her, despite not believing in love or marriage. With their different social backgrounds and personalities, Kim Joo Won and Gil Ra Im are hesitant to get closer – until they swap bodies one fateful rainy night. Besides a fun fantasy story device and excellent acting by the leads, Secret Garden gave viewers classic romantic moments that never get old, like the heart-fluttering sit-up scene and the cappuccino foam kiss!



8. A Gentleman's Dignity (2012)
Two years after the acclaimed Secret Garden, Kim Eun Sook and Shin Woo Chul returned with A Gentleman's Dignity, a Korean drama centering around the lives of four middle-aged men who have been friends since high school. Always mocking and teasing each other, the four protagonists played by Jang Dong Gun, Kim Su Ro, Kim Min Jong and Lee Jong Hyuk have different personalities and professions, but they have one thing in common: their love lives are a mess. Through their encounters and stories with Kim Ha Neul, Yoon Se Ah, Kim Jung Nan and Yoon Jin Yi, the four man-children experience the highs and lows of love that hone them into gentlemen with dignity.



9. The Heirs (2013)
After years of working with Shin Woo Chul, Kim Eun Sook freshened things up by collaborating with director Kang Shin Hyo for the hit teen romance The Heirs. The coming-of-age school drama follows Kim Tan (Lee Min Ho), the heir to a conglomerate, falling for poor girl Cha Eun Sang (Park Shin Hye), who turns out to be the daughter of his live-in housekeeper. Eun Sang steps into a new world after entering the same elite school as Tan, and gets entangled in the complications of friendship, love and class differences. With a star-studded young cast that includes Kim Woo Bin, Kim Ji Won, Kang Min Hyuk, Krystal Jung and Park Hyung Sik, The Heirs rose to success on its irresistible combo of idol star power and Cinderella romance, and even elevated second lead Kim Woo Bin to Korean Wave fame.



10. Descendants of the Sun (2016)
KBS's high-rating melodrama Descendants of the Sun, which won Grand Prize at the 52nd Baeksang Arts Awards, was Kim Eun Sook's first collaboration with directors Lee Eung Bok and Baek Sang Hoon. The hit Korean drama took Asia by storm with its heart-wrenching and poignant romance. Following his military discharge, Song Joong Ki made his small-screen comeback as army captain Yoo Si Jin who falls in love with medical team surgeon Kang Mo Yeon (Song Hye Kyo) while they're deployed overseas in a war zone. Mutually attracted yet reluctant to take the plunge, the pair go through countless life or death situations to understand each other and the nature of their work. The cute love story between sergeant Jin Goo and lieutenant Kim Ji Won also made its way into audience hearts as well!



11. Guardian: The Lonely and Great God (2016)
Already riding a new high on the success of Descendants of the Sun, Kim Eun Sook somehow managed to outdo herself the same year with the tvN fantasy romance Guardian: The Lonely and Great God, better known as just Goblin. Blending supernatural mythology and centuries-spanning angst into sweet romance (and amusing bromance), her first cable drama peaked at over 18% viewership rating. Gong Yoo plays a warrior who has lived from ancient times to the present, tortured by past memories and the loneliness of immortality. The goblin can be freed from the curse of immortality if he finds his destined bride – but he may not want to die after falling in love with Kim Go Eun. Guardian won the Grand Prize at the 53rd Baeksang Arts Awards. More importantly, it gave us the immortal image of goblin Gong Yoo and reaper Lee Dong Wook emerging from the shadows of a dark road and walking towards the camera in slow motion, long coats billowing behind.



12. Mr. Sunshine (2018)
Working again with director Lee Eung Bok, Kim Eun Sook delivered her most ambitiously realized production yet in 2018 with the tvN period drama Mr. Sunshine, which also ranks among Korea's top ten cable dramas of all time with viewership ratings over 18%. Set at the turn of the century after the abolishment of slavery but before Japanese annexation, the series captures Korea during a time of national upheaval and social transformation. People of different backgrounds, loyalties and motivations intersect in this complex, dangerous and romantic world where matters of the heart come secondary to the struggles of the homeland. Movie stars Lee Byung Hun and Kim Tae Ri take to the small screen to play a conflicted former slave who returns to Joseon as an American soldier, and a free-thinking noblewoman who becomes a freedom fighter.



13. The King: Eternal Monarch (2020)
The Heirs' Lee Min Ho and Goblin's Kim Go Eun reunited with Kim Eun Sook in 2020 for the time-slip melodrama The King: Eternal Monarch – the first time the writer casted two of her former drama leads together. Thanks to a magical flute, Lee Gon (Lee Min Ho), the rational and reticent king of the Kingdom of Corea, crosses a portal into the parallel world of the Republic of Korea. There, he encounters his savior and the love of his life, police officer Jeong Tae Eul (Kim Go Eun), who saved him from being killed by his uncle 25 years ago. While fighting against time, space and fate, Lee Gon must catch his uncle – who holds the other half of the flute – in both worlds to stop the spiral of tragedy and save his people in the Kingdom of Corea. Though the reception for The King: Eternal Monarch was not as positive as Kim's previous works, the fantasy series still intrigues with its interesting concept of love and crime mystery across parallel worlds.



14. The Glory (2022)
"For your eventual destruction. For my eventual corruption. Let's wilt and die together." Six years after Descendants of the Sun, Kim Eun Sook joined hands with Song Hye Kyo again for the Netflix revenge thriller The Glory, which has become a global hit. Song Hye Kyo puts aside her romantic heroine image to portray Moon Dong Eun – a dark and calm woman filled with frustration and hatred from the physical and mental wounds of her high school days. Forced to drop out of school after being severely bullied by a gang of well-off classmates led by Park Yeon Jin (Shin Ye Eun / Lim Ji Yeon), Dong Eun forewarns them that she will take an eye for an eye and destroy their lives one day. Inspired by real-life bullying cases, The Glory shocks with disturbingly cruel bullying scenes that drive in the pain of the heroine, and her determination to show no mercy in her revenge plan. Of course, there's no way that a Kim Eun Sook work would proceed without romance – Dong Eun's relationship with her "executioner" Joo Yeo Jeong (Lee Do Hyun) and her tension with Yeon Jin's husband (Jung Sung Il) are among the highlights of the drama.





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Published February 27, 2023