The year she turned 30, she made her debut with SBS’s South of the Sun. She says she worked as a bookkeeper at a furniture factory in Gangneung after high school, entered college late, wrote plays in Daehangno and went back to Gangneung, and became a drama writer after a phone call from a production company CEO.
The breakthrough yearThe year she turned 31, she wrote SBS’s Lovers in Paris. It reached a peak rating of 57.6 percent, and OhmyNews wrote that this work from her newcomer days made Kim Eun-sook a star writer overnight.
In 2005, Lovers in Paris won her the TV screenplay prize at the Baeksang Arts Awards, and in the fall she began Lovers in Prague. In 2006 she began Lovers, the third of her “Lovers” dramas. In 2007, Lovers ended at its own best rating of 25.3 percent.
In 2008 she wrote On Air, set in the broadcasting industry. In 2009 she wrote City Hall. In November 2010 she began Secret Garden. In January 2011, Secret Garden ended with 35.2 percent for its last episode, and in May she won her second Baeksang screenplay prize.
In 2012 she wrote A Gentleman’s Dignity, her last work with director Shin Woo-chul. In 2013 she wrote The Heirs. In 2014 she announced that her next work would be Descendants of the Sun, and after the Sewol ferry disaster she donated 20 million won. In 2015 she began shooting Descendants of the Sun, which was 100 percent pre-produced.
In 2016, Descendants of the Sun ended with 38.8 percent for its last episode, and in December Goblin began. That year she received a presidential commendation at the Korean Popular Culture and Arts Awards and the Writer’s Award at the KBS Drama Awards. In 2017, Goblin ended with 20.5 percent for its final episode, and in May she won her first grand prize at the Baeksang Arts Awards. In 2018 she wrote Mr. Sunshine, set in the late Joseon period.
In 2019, production of her next work, The King: Eternal Monarch, was made official. In 2020 that drama first aired on SBS. In 2021 it was announced that Song Hye-kyo would star in her new work. In December 2022, that work, Netflix’s The Glory, released its part 1.
The year she turned 50, The Glory part 2 reached No. 1 on Netflix worldwide, and at the end of the year she was chosen as the drama category winner of the Korean Broadcasting Writers Awards. In 2025 Netflix released her Genie, Make a Wish. In 2026 she made donations for children in vulnerable groups and for flood victims.
Kim Eun-sook (born Dec 10, 1973) made her debut on Aug 30, 2003, the year she turned 30, with SBS’s South of the Sun, and became known with SBS’s Lovers in Paris, which first aired on Jun 12, 2004, the year she turned 31. She won the TV Grand Prize at the Baeksang Arts Awards in 2017, the year she turned 44.
Ages are by calendar year (the year minus the birth year), birthdays aside.