Home Permanent Exhibition IM Kwon-taek, Boy and Young Man
sitemap sitemap

Visitors can take a peek into IM’s personal history through photos of him as a baby on his mother’s lap
and as a young man assisting Filmmaker Chung Chang-hwa.
Young Im Kwon-taek’s Life and Ordeal within
the Storm of Modern Korean History
Director Im Kwon-taek was born in 1934 in the countryside village of Dangwang in South Jeolla Province. His family was swept up in the ideological conflict that ensued after Korea was liberated from Japanese colonial rule. Frustrated by his family's hardships, Im ran away from home at 18 and went to Busan, the temporary capital during the Korean War. He lived hand to mouth first as a coolie and then as a sales clerk in a combat boots store. After the armistice, his boss moved to Seoul and started a film company. That was how Im first set foot into the film industry.