Kim Eun-hee

Kim Eun-hee is a South Korean television and film screenwriter known for constructing crime stories around institutions, unresolved cases, and supernatural threats. She made her feature film screenwriting debut with the 2008 thriller The Devil’s Game, directed by Yoon In-ho. The film centers on an elderly man who exchanges bodies with a younger man through a surgeon’s experiment. Her television dramas established a body of genre work, moving between medical forensics, political suspense, historical horror, and supernatural folklore themes. In SBS’s Sign (2011), she placed forensic doctors at the center of a murder investigation, using autopsies and evidence rather than a conventional police procedural. Phantom (2012) turned to cybercrime and digital identity, following investigators confronting hacking and online manipulation. Three Days (2014) follows a presidential bodyguard searching for a missing president after gunfire at the Blue House. Signal (2016), one of her dramas, links detective Park Hae-young in the present with detective Lee Jae-han in the past through a mysterious walkie talkie. Their communication lets police reopen cold cases, while the series examines official failures and the cost of changing events. The drama starred Lee Je-hoon, Kim Hye-soo, and Cho Jin-woong, and Kim won the Best Screenplay prize at the 52nd Baeksang Arts Awards. Its critical reputation and ratings helped make it a landmark cable drama. Kim wrote Kingdom, Netflix’s period zombie series, with director Kim Seong-hun directing its first season. Set in Korea’s Joseon era, it begins as Crown Prince Lee Chang investigates rumors surrounding his ailing father and discovers an epidemic that turns the dead into violent attackers. Ju Ji-hoon plays Chang, while Bae Doona plays physician Seo-bi. The first season premiered in 2019; a second followed in 2020. Kim also wrote the 2021 special episode Kingdom: Ashin of the North, focused on Ashin, played by Jun Ji-hyun, and the origin of the resurrection plant. Her projects continued to shift genres. Jirisan (2021) follows national park rangers working on Mount Jiri and combines rescue missions with a mystery involving deaths on the mountain. In Revenant (2023), Kim returned to horror: Kim Tae-ri plays Gu San-yeong, a young woman pursued by an evil spirit after receiving an object connected to her father. Oh Jung-se plays folklore professor Yeom Hae-sang, who can see spirits. The series uses Korean shamanistic beliefs and folklore within its investigation narrative, demonstrating Kim’s recurring interest in fear, grief, and hidden explanations for death.