Shin was born in 1939 in
Pyongsan County in what is now North Korea. In 1952, his family
defected to South Korea amid the
Korean War when he was 12 years old. His father then ran a store in
Daejeon. After working on editorial cartoons and a few animated films in South Korea, he moved to the United States in the 1970s. During that time, he worked on the
lightsaber special effects for
Star Wars. He worked for
DePatie–Freleng Enterprises and stayed with the company after it was acquired by
Marvel Comics and was renamed to
Marvel Productions. In 1985, a rush for animation on
My Little Pony: The Movie gave Shin the opportunity to found
AKOM in
Seoul. His studio created 300,000 animation cells for the film. AKOM produced animation for many foreign shows and films, including tens of thousands of frames for
The Simpsons. Shin also produced
The Transformers and directed
The Transformers: The Movie. He grew tired of creating animations for other directors, so he sought to create the film
Empress Chung as a personal passion project. He worked for seven years and spent of his own money on the film. In order to save costs, he collaborated with the North Korean
SEK Studio because North Korean animators are paid less than South Korean animators. The film made use of 500 animators, 400 of which were North Korean. On August 12, 2005,
Empress Chung became the first film to have been released simultaneously in both North and South Korea. It played in 6 theaters in North Korea and 51 theaters in South Korea. The film won a prize at the 2003
Annecy International Animation Film Festival and won the top prize at the 2004
Seoul International Cartoon and Animation Festival. Despite its critical success, it was a financial failure, earning only . He directed the 2013 Chinese animated film
The Frog Kingdom, which was nominated for Best Animated Feature Film at the 2014
Asia Pacific Screen Awards. == References ==