He made his first film A Hometown in Heart (1949) in South Korea before defecting to the North to pursue his filmmaking career.

[1] The classic A Hometown in Heart, released on DVD in 2011 by the Korean Federation of Film Archives and on Blu-ray in 2023 by Blue Kino,[4] was one of the most important films made in Korea after its liberation from Japan.

Based on Ham Se Deok's play Tongseung (A Little Monk),[5][6] it tells the story of Do-seong, a child monk (Yoo Min) who longs for his mother, who has abandoned him.

Stanley Park remade the film in 2014 as A Hometown in my Heart (내 마음의 고향; Nae maeumui gohyang).

[7] Teen Guerrillas was one of the first North Korean films, shot during the war.