Film director the late Kim Ki-duk marked the fifth anniversary today (11th).
On Dec. 11, 2020 (local time), news that director Kim Ki-duk had died in Latvia from complications of COVID-19 shocked many. He was 60.
Director Kim Ki-duk had planned to obtain permanent residency after purchasing a house in Latvia. He moved abroad after a series of controversies at home, including MeToo. However, contact with his close associates was cut off in early Dec. 2020, and after testing positive for COVID-19 he was hospitalized at a hospital in Riga, the capital. Ultimately, his condition worsened from complications and he died.
At the time, a representative for director Kim Ki-duk told OSEN, "After checking with the family, the foreign reports are correct. The family also received contact today," offering a brief statement. The late director's body was cremated locally due to the impact of the COVID infection and the wishes of the bereaved family.
Kim Ki-duk was a controversial director whose provocative themes and expressions divided opinion, yet he was regarded as one of the masters of Korean film, having won awards at the Cannes, Venice and Berlin international film festivals, three of the world's major film festivals.
Then in 2018, he was engulfed in the MeToo controversy that swept across society. At the time, MBC's PD Notebook aired the episode "Film director Kim Ki-duk, the master's bare face," and actresses who had appeared in Kim Ki-duk's films came forward on the broadcast to accuse the late director Kim Ki-duk of sexual assault, sparking the controversy.
In the end, director Kim Ki-duk received a summary order of a 5 million won fine for charges including assault and forced molestation causing injury, and he filed a 1 billion won damages lawsuit claiming that PD Notebook's report was false, but he lost the case.
Despite his brilliant achievements, Kim, whose legacy was stained by the sexual assault controversy, turned his steps abroad rather than remaining in Korea, and his lonely death abroad left a bitter taste for those who witnessed it.
In an interview ahead of the release of his 2016 film The Net, he confessed, "The source of my power to make films is inferiority. Discomfort toward others accumulates into aggressiveness, and in my case I express that through film." He also said, "These days I feel I make films more by 'letting go' than by inferiority. From birth, people are brainwashed countless times: by parents, by society. From their 40s people want to discard what they have accumulated. If you hate someone, show tolerance… I think I've changed that way," mentioning that he had changed.
[Photo] Provided by NEW, OSEN DB
[OSEN]