Kim Ki Duk was a South Korean film director and professor. Best known outside of Korea for his 1967 giant monster film "Yongary", Kim directed 66 movies in total from his directorial debut in 1961 until his retirement from the film industry in 1977. Along with Kim Soo Yong and Lee Man Hee, Kim was one of the leading young directors of the Korean cinematic wave of the 1960s. The most distinctive and successful genre of this period was the melodrama (청춘영화 – cheongchun yeonghwa).
He died on 7 September 2017 at the age of 83 from lung cancer
He is not related to Kim Ki Duk, the South Korean director of 3-Iron.