Director Yoon Sung-sik of 'Guigung' "From the Eightfold Ear to the Apricot Ear..."Global empathy with 'Han' in traditional folktales"

By Minjeong, Cho

Jun 04, 2025

Director Yoon Sung-sik of 'Guigung' 'From the Eightfold Ear to the Apricot Ear...'Global empathy with 'Han' in traditional folktales'



Director Yoon Sung-sik revealed the secret of his work's popularity, while 'Going Palace' is revealing the true face of K-Occult based on its global popularity.

SBS's Friday-Saturday drama 'Going Palace' (written by Yoon Soo-jung and directed by Yoon Sung-sik) is a fantasy romance comedy about a shaman who rejected the fate of Young-mae and Lee Mugi's steel in the body of her first love Yoon Gap, confronting the octogenarian who has a grudge against the royal family. The novel material, colorful narrative, and the enthusiastic performance of Yook Sung-jae (Kang Chul-i/Yoon Gap), Kim Ji-yeon (Yeo Ri), and Kim Ji-hoon (Lee Jung) captured viewers' hearts and became the best topic of the weekend's small screen.

'Going Palace' overtook the competition and showed off its potential by ranking first in the same time and weekly miniseries in all episodes based on Nielsen Korea's tally. In particular, it ranked first in 2049 ratings, proving its channel competitiveness and continuing its success with only two episodes left until the end of the show.




At the center of such a box office is the original K-Occult of 'Guigung'. By reinterpreting rare characters conceived from traditional folktales as 'human beings' rather than just fear', he opened a new horizon in the occult genre by showing a healing narrative that cares for the pain and wounds of rare objects. Each of the treasures and their stories, such as Seo Do-young (eight-cheok-gui), Song Soo-i (maternal ear jade), Park Da-on (light ear), Kim Joon-won (water ear makdol), and Lee Tae-gum (one-legged ear), drew attention every day.

Director Yoon Seong-sik said "Goong" is not limited to the occult genre, but a drama that properly mixes romantic comedies and human dramas, and has gained broad sympathy." "The approach to ghosts as objects of compassion and empathy, not fear, seems to have broken genre prejudice and given them a new charm," he added.

In particular, regarding the global response, "The Korean emotion 'Han' was captured through ghosts appearing in traditional Korean narratives" and "This emotion seems to have drawn global sympathy in connection with the universal sensibility of mankind." It also gave a unique charm to Asian viewers who share a world view of Buddhism and Taoism.




There are only two episodes left until the end of the show.


In the final episode, the last struggle of Steel, Yeori, and Lee Jung will be held to extinguish the octogenarian ear, which has become a powerful evil spirit. Viewers' expectations are at their peak ahead of the grand finale.

Meanwhile, SBS Friday-Saturday drama 'Going Palace' will air episode 15 at 9:50 p.m. on the 6th.






mj.cho@sportschosun.com