Kang Dae-ha

Kang Dae-ha (April 12, 1942 – 1995) was a South Korean screenwriter, producer, film and art director and poet.

Kang Dae-ha was born in Seogwipo, Jeju Island, Korea in 1942, and majored in creative writing at Seorabeol Arts University. He initially considered becoming a painter, but after graduating high school he turned to literature, writing poetry for coterie magazine The Cliff (Jeolbyeok). His poem, The Paean (Changa), was recommended in the December 1965 issue of the monthly literary magazine Contemporary Literature (Hyundae Munhak). Before going on to get a third recommendation—the last step to becoming a professional poet—he instead entered the film industry, gaining recognition for his 1970 screenplay, Somebody's' House (Tain-ui jip). Throughout his career he wrote more than fifty screenplays, including A Girl's First Love (Sonyeo-ui cheot-sarang, 1971), and Green Fallen-Leaves (Paran nagyeop, 1976).

In 1976, Kang debuted as a film director with the action film Immoral Man (Baedeokja), based on his own screenplay, which was produced by Gukje Film Promotion (국제영화흥업) and starred Lee Nak-hoon and Yeo Su-jin (여수진). Although the film depicts kidnapping, murder, and illicit drug dealing, the themes of Kang's subsequent works related more to Korean culture and religion. His second film as director, Three Generations of Widows (Gwabu 3dae, 1983), was also based on his own screenplay, and was set in a town of haenyeo (female divers) on Jeju Island in post war Korea.

Kang's later works include The Fire Arrow (불화살 1989), which dealt with Confucian tradition in ancient Korean society regarding women's faithfulness to their husbands, and Mayago (마야고 1989), which was based around Korean shamanism.

Kang died of liver cancer in Seoul in 1995.