Early Career in KBS In 2001, Na applied for the 27th Public Recruitment at
KBS. He firmly believed that, as an evaluator, he would prefer selecting individuals who excelled in specific areas rather than those who were merely average in multiple areas. Due to his strong aversion to essay writing, he focused his attention on the art of plan writing. From that point onward, he devoted himself entirely to watching TV, narrowing his interests down to analyzing three specific aspects: "It's enjoyable because of this. If it's not enjoyable, it's not enjoyable because of this. If I were asked to modify this program, I would make the changes in this manner." Na firmly believed that his acceptance into KBS was a result of his exceptional 'plan'. In 2002, when
Lee Myung-han was in charge of directing
Super TV Sunday is Fun, His juniors were in charge of directing each segment of the show. Na was assigned the role as assistant director, in charge of segment ''Let's Go! Dream Team - Season 1.
Meanwhile Shin Won-ho directing Kung Kung Ta
. They worked together again in Star Golden Bell'' (2004). Na and
Lee Myung-han reunited with writer
Lee Woo-jung when both were in charge of co-directing
Heroine 5. Na and
Lee Myung-han collaborated on two new segments of Happy Sunday: ''
and Are You Ready?
High Five
aired on KBS 2TV from May 6, 2007, to May 18, 2008. The show was hosted by Jee Seok-jin and it focused on five female stars who embarked on different job experiences. Throughout the series, they took on roles such as flight attendants, farmers, stuntwomen, and police officers. Given the diverse backgrounds of the stars, comedic twists and events were often incorporated into their training. The initial lineup of High Five'' stars included comedian
Jo Hye-ryun, entertainer Hyun Young, singer
Chae Yeon, MC
Park Kyung-lim, and actress Kim Min-sun.
Happy Sunday: Are You Ready? was aired from May 6, 2007, to July 29, 2007.
Kang Ho-dong served as the host, and the cast included
Lee Soo-geun,
Eun Ji-won,
Kim Jong-min,
Noh Hong-chul, and
Ji Sang-ryeol. The show centered around the cast and special guests engaging in a variety of games. The initial three episodes focused on games related to the Chinese language, while the subsequent episodes leading up to the finale featured physical and logic-based games. Unfortunately, due to poor ratings,
Are You Ready? was discontinued after airing 12 episodes. The show not only boosted tourism for the locations it featured, its massive popularity also extended to its cast and even the crew. Because Na often appeared onscreen during interactions with the cast, he himself soon became a household name among Korean audiences, who affectionately called him "Na PD" ("PD" is a commonly used term in Korean television that denotes "producer-director" or "production director").Kim Seong-yoon, a researcher at the Institute for Culture and Society, said, "Na was the first producer to show a world view through entertainment," and analyzed, "This is the biggest reason why viewers remember PD's name clearly when they can't remember the name of other PDs."In January, 2012, Na, who was recognized for his contributions, was promoted to a second-level deputy general manager, one rank higher than before. Afterwards, he took a break by writing book. He also developed another KBS program in 2012,
The Human Condition in October. Cast were six comedians (
Kim Jun-hyun, Kim Joon-ho,
Heo Kyung-hwan, Yang Sang-guk, Jung Tae-ho and Park Seong-ho) live together for seven days under certain restrictions, such as without gadgets, electricity, or water. Na produced the four-episode
pilot. During this hiatus, transfer rumors circulated several times, but PD Na dismissed them as untrue.
Career in CJENM Grandpas Over Flowers On January 2, 2013, Na signed with media conglomerate
CJ E&M, which owns cable channels such as
tvN. CJ E&M had reportedly wooed him with not just a bigger salary, but the assurance of greater creative control and clout. Na said, "I determined that there is more room for creativity (in cable). Things move at a fast pace. The programs come and go as does the attention of viewers. So we are forced to try different things." In an increasingly youth-obsessed medium and culture, he surprised pundits by casting four actors in their seventies:
Lee Soon-jae,
Shin Goo,
Park Geun-hyung and
Baek Il-seob. Since
backpacking was mostly associated with the young, Na wanted to flip the idea and make it fresh. He said that by placing veteran actors (who are fixed in their habits) in exotic settings, it allowed for "unexpected" elements to unfold that made for great TV. The cast drew increased mainstream popularity among the younger generation, and the show sparked a trend of senior citizen-themed shows among rival networks. tvN also leveraged the show's domestic popularity into international success, selling
remake rights to the United States. When asked why the show struck a chord with audiences, Na said, "It's because older people with a lot of experience, have lots of stories to tell. When you travel with people with a lot of experience who have gone through the success and failures in life, you learn a lot from them." With the success of
Grandpas Over Flowers following
2 Days & 1 Night, Na cemented his reputation as the most influential
creator and producer in Korean reality television. Actress
Choi Ji-woo joined the cast for the Greece trip.
Sisters Over Flowers, Youth Over Flowers While
Grandpas Over Flowers went on hiatus in late 2013 (the cast was busy with their respective acting projects), Na produced the first
spin-off,
Sisters Over Flowers. Using the same format, he cast a group of top actresses (
Youn Yuh-jung,
Kim Ja-ok,
Kim Hee-ae and
Lee Mi-yeon) and pushed them out of their comfort zone as they traveled to
Croatia. The second spin-off, which aired in 2014 after the Spain season of
Grandpas Over Flowers, was
Youth Over Flowers. It featured singer-songwriters Yoon Sang,
You Hee-yeol and
Lee Juck in
Peru, and
Reply 1994 actors
Yoo Yeon-seok,
Son Ho-jun and
Baro in
Laos. Na only directed the Peru segments, while
Reply 1994 director Shin Won-ho filmed in Laos. Both spin-offs likewise drew high ratings for cable. Na also made
cameo appearances on two tvN
scripted series. As a
meta in-joke about his real-life
alma mater, he played a boarder from
Yonsei University in episode 2 of the nostalgic campus drama
Reply 1994.
Reply 1994's director
Shin Won-ho and screenwriter
Lee Woo-jung had previously worked with Na on
2 Days & 1 Night. Then as a favor to Lee Soon-jae, Na played a police officer in episode 66 of Lee's
sitcom Potato Star 2013QR3.
Three Meals a Day After
Youth Over Flowers, Na wanted to continue to innovate. Inspired by Lee Seo-jin's complaints that he hated cooking while preparing meals in
Grandpas Over Flowers, Na cast Lee opposite his
Wonderful Days co-star
Ok Taecyeon in
Three Meals a Day. The two men were tasked to cook three meals a day from home-grown ingredients while living three days a week in a rural village in
Jeongseon County,
Gangwon Province . Though the concept seemed simple, Lee and Ok, both city dwellers, had difficulty cultivating the vegetable garden and harvesting from the farm animals and the sorghum field, such that they struggled to feed themselves (and weekly celebrity guests) to comical results. Na said, "All cooking shows do not have to feature fancy, delicious food. We seek the sincerity that comes from cooking with all their hearts. I just wanted to work on a lighthearted show that can highlight the small pleasures of life. I wanted to talk about a meal that is made with vegetables from my garden and have these two guys share their homely foods with their friends. The main concept is that it is a cooking show but with no mouth-watering foods because these two guys can't cook." For the second season in 2015, Na added a third cast member,
Kim Kwang-kyu. The show's difficulty level was increased with an additional four-month project depicting the process of growing food, from cultivation to harvest (the cast was strictly prohibited from grocery shopping). Na said, "Nature itself is incredible. I wanted to show the audience how hard it is to harvest the materials for our daily meals that can now be easily purchased at supermarkets near our homes."
Three Meals a Day: Fishing Village In 2015, Na produced the spin-off
Three Meals a Day: Fishing Village, set on the remote island of Manjae, which takes six hours to reach by ferry from the mainland. Besides the isolated location, the seaside setting meant more intensive physical labor for cast members
Cha Seung-won,
Yoo Hae-jin, and
Son Ho-jun (Son replaced
Jang Keun-suk when Jang was edited out of the show after a
tax evasion controversy). Viewers were impressed with Cha's cooking skills amidst minimal ingredients and implements (hence his nickname "Ch
ajumma"), and the show received a record-high 14.2% rating. Season 1 had a winter setting, while the second season was filmed in the summer. The show resumed its "fishing village" concept in the next season, which was filmed in Deukryang island. It stars an entirely new cast which includes a returning
Lee Seo-jin alongside
Yoon Kyun-sang and
Eric Mun from
Shinhwa. Viewers were impressed by
Eric Mun, who showed unexpected cooking skills and fishing expertise. Na later said that his rural upbringing in
Cheongju,
North Chungcheong Province influenced his work ("I'm the perfect opposite of trendy and sophisticated"), and that he specializes in reality shows because he "can take a story from anyone" by editing footage given to him by cameramen and making any story out of it. He said, "Everyone has their own personality and their view on life, which naturally creates stories when they are put together with other people. [...] The viewer ratings can always decline. I don't want to make a fancy reality show where I just think about the ratings. I want to keep my tone when I make a reality show."
Three Meals a Day: Sea Ranch The show's seventh season, was filmed in Deungnyangdo, a remote island near the sea. Unlike its previous concept where members had to grow and cook their own food, the show featured a more laid-back concept where members were tasked to deliver fresh milk from mountain goats to the people on the island.
New Journey to the West Na then reunited with his former
2 Days & 1 Night stars Lee Seung-gi, Kang Ho-dong, Eun Ji-won and Lee Soo-geun, as the quartet took on characters from the 16th century classic Chinese novel
Journey to the West and traveled for five days through
Xi'an, once the capital of China during the
Tang dynasty.
New Journey to the West was the first project of tvN Go (the cable channel's digital content brand), and it was unprecedented for a variety show to be distributed solely through
online streaming (on the web portals
Naver TV Cast and
QQ). Instead of the usual one-hour episode length, each uploaded video clip lasted from five to ten minutes, and the Internet provided freedom from broadcast television's restrictions, such as a ban on indirect advertising of certain brands and adult language (including references to the
tax evasion and illegal
gambling controversies Kang and Lee, respectively, had been involved in). The show was a success with over 42 million views on Naver TV Cast and 10 million views on Chinese portal site QQ. The second season of the show was filmed in
Chengdu, which included a new cast member
Ahn Jae-hyun (replacing Lee Seung Gi who left for military conscription). Aside from airing on online platforms, the show was now aired on cable channel
tvN. It garnered over 100 million views in China. The third season of the show, added boy band members
Kyuhyun and
Song Min-ho and was filmed in
Guilin. The fourth season of the show was filmed in
Vietnam. The fifth season was filmed in
Hong Kong with a new member
P.O (Pyo Ji-hoon Block B). Then, it is continuously aired the sixth season that was filmed in
Hokkaido.
Ahn Jae-hyun was not shown in the seventh season due to his personal family issue, this season was all filmed in South Korea
''Youn's Kitchen'' In 2017, Na decided to introduce a new program which focuses on a group of South Korean celebrities (
Youn Yuh-jung,
Lee Seo-jin,
Park Seo-joon and
Jung Yu-mi) operating a small Korean cuisine restaurant on a small island overseas. The series was a huge success, with its second season garnering 16% ratings, a record high for an entertainment show on a cable channel. It also helped spread a social trend among young Koreans of trying to break away from a lifestyle devoted to work and money and embracing the motto YOLO ("You Only Live Once").
''Kang's Kitchen'' Kang's Kitchen is a spin-off of Na's other program
New Journey to the West, which features the cast running a pork cutlet restaurant on
Jeju Island. Na PD is shy.
Trivia Also known as the dictionary of useless knowledge, is a show that's already in its third season, airing on TVN.
Little Cabin in the Woods After the success of ''Youn's Kitchen'', Na was allowed to create a program of his own choice. Na thus decided to create a documentary-formatted program which follows two celebrities' (
So Ji-sub and
Park Shin-hye) off-grid lives in a house in the middle of the woods in
Jeju Island; out of reach of technology and people. There, the cast members are required to fill their day by completing missions and doing such basic chores as cooking, making a fire and chopping firewood. Na explained that he created the show to show busy people in the cities that there is a slow-paced and more leisurely way of life. In line with his philosophy of creating his previous programs,
Little Cabin in the Woods was created on the premise that TV viewers take great comfort by watching celebrities living slow-paced, peaceful lives.
''Youn's Stay'' Youn's Stay is Youn's third series, an entertainment program in which Korean celebrities (
Youn Yuh-jung,
Lee Seo-jin,
Jung Yu-mi,
Park Seo-joon, and
Choi Woo-shik) run accommodations in Gurye-gun, Jeollanam-do, Korea.
Earth Arcade Earth Arcade is producer Na Young-seok's new travel variety show that aired in 2022. The first season took place in
Thailand, with the first shooting in
Bangkok, the second shooting in
Ko Samui Island, and the third shooting in Khlong Sok National Park. The second season took place in Finland with the first shooting in [Helsinki] and the second shooting [in Rovaniemi] and the third shooting in [Bali] Indonesia. Korean celebrities (
Lee Eun-ji,
Mimi,
Lee Young-ji, and
An Yu-jin) appeared, and both the program and the cast gained high popularity.
Nana Tour A spin-off of
Youth Over Flowers (2014–2019), the show was restructured to allow
Seventeen to have a proper rest. Instead of leaving them to their own devices, the group enjoys an all-inclusive package tour in Italy. Kidnapped by producer Na Yeong-seok (Na PD), the cast embarks on a seven-day trip to Italy, minus the exhaustion. Their first group trip to Europe, that they abruptly embarked on after a concert, feels like a holiday of sorts, with a package tour full of additional services tailored to Seventeen—a travelog of Seventeen, by Seventeen, for Seventeen
Nana Tour with Seventeen premiered domestically on cable channel tvN and its platform streaming service TVING from January 5 to February 16, 2024. Extended cuts of the 6 episodes were released worldwide via Weverse on the same days.
Nana BnB A spin off of
Nana Tour, Nana Bnb once again includes a kidnapping of the cast,
Seventeen, in the middle of shooting a fake content and getting whisked away to
Boeun,
Chungcheongnam-do to a traditional rural Minbak (bnb), where they must make at least 3 meals a day and must do so using wood fired ovens and cauldrons. It started airing on six different platforms from 2nd June, 2025. == Personal life ==