I've been down so many research rabbit holes recently that it only just dawned on me that I've only added a few bits and pieces from my own research to the Koreans on the HKMDB so far, which was the main reason I was recruited in the first place. My entry onto the HKMDB came during yet another period of research on the Jackie Chan Stunt Team (something else I've spent years on [plenty more to come]), so I thought that updating some JCST stuff of there'd be a good way to get into the swing of things. But at the same time as adding updates, I ended up down yet another rabbit whole of research (which will also be of use to the HKMDB in the future). Then with the collapse of the Naver database, my “Korean stuff time” was taken up by trying to deal with the fallout from that. All that (and more) while backing up pretty much my entire collection of DVDs onto a new external hard drive.
It's taken years (and work continues) to build up my own Korean research database, especially when the credits on some of the films are almost none existent and even when there were some, finding pics or info on those names was exceedingly difficult. Even the KMDB couldn't be relied upon as they had a lot of missing data and (more commonly than I'd expect) there'd be inaccuracies with ID's and even mix ups, a good example being Won Jin, who's KMDB page is still mixed with about 5 other Kim Won-jin's. It took a lot of sleuthing and checking films with few credits against each other to put reoccurring names and faces together etc. I'm sure many of you are familiar with that. I even went as far as creating a Hanja database to try and translate films that had credits but in Hanja rather than Hangul. Hopefully the KMDB will get around to revising the info for these Korean martial arts films and actors, surely they must have the data in the vaults somewhere?
When it comes to IDs, I have a crap load of pics that I've taken over the years, but some were merely for reference rather than as a good display image, also, it's only in the past 6 months (I think) that I realised that the players I used to use would sometimes mess up the aspect ratio of the pics, so I switched to MPV player which seems to (as far as I can tell, I'm not a tech guy) play the vids in their original form. It was round about the same time that I discovered that ripping my DVD vids into MPG files produced noticeably better quality images (with some exceptions of course), though took up huge amounts of space. I bought a new external hard drive and painstakingly backed up pretty much my entire collection as MPGs. I also managed to track down and buy many DVDs missing from my collection over Xmas, so there's more there to do. But I've started (and intend to eventually finish) going over all my MPGs to try to get the best pics possible. It's a big mess but I believe the results are worth it.
Obviously this is a momentous task and will take a very long time, too long I think to keep things on hold, so I'm going to begin updating the HKMDB pages for as many of the Korean entries as possible. For the time being I'll upload the images that I already have and use them as place holders, so at least the IDs are there for fellow fans to use, I'm not saying that my older pics aren't any good, it's just that MPG pics are better. Aside from ID's I'll also be:
Correcting any names to a standardised Hangul transliteration system, which will provide some consistency for Korean names on the HKMDB, it is also highly accurate for reverse-engineering between English and Hangul. Previous names will be kept but set as aliases.
Adding the actual Hangul (and Hanja where available).
Correcting any errors I may encounter such as wrongful ID's, wrong credits etc.
Adding actors to cast lists, as many times no credits are available and sometimes even when they are credits they are still missing names.
Adding some further info where available such as DOB, place of birth, aliases etc. and in some cases I'll add bios written using my research.
There's so much to do, so I'm planning to pace myself and update them person by person rather than by film, but I'll play it by ear and see how things go, in some cases it may be more convenient to update a whole film's cast in one go, we'll just have to see. Although I have dedicated years researching Korean martial arts movies, there's only so much one man can do, especially when there is sadly so little to work with. Hopefully KMDB will get their act together an do an overhaul of all the old martial arts movies and those actors too, even the KMDB doesn't give them the attention they deserve. As always, I hope fellow fans find my research interesting or at least useful.
Credits added:
The 18 Amazones [1979] https://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=8915&display_set=eng --- actor [character name] + stunt double
Enter The Invincible Hero [1981] https://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=8924&display_set=eng --- actor [character names]
The Dragon's Snake Fist [1981] https://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=10356&display_set=eng --- actor [character name]
Sheng Tiao Hero [1982] https://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=9395&display_set=eng --- actor + stunt double
Dreadnaught Rivals [1982] https://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=19075&display_set=eng --- actor [character names] + stunt double
Duel Of Ultimate Weapons [1983] https://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=19076&display_set=eng --- [character name]
Shaolin - The Blood Mission [1984] https://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=9261&display_set=eng --- actor [character name]
Thunder Kids: Golden Adventure [1989] https://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=15766&display_set=eng --- [character name]
To Catch A Thief [1991] https://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=7399&display_set=eng --- actor [character name]
Saviour Of The Soul II [1992] https://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=7482&display_set=eng --- [character name] + stunt double
Thanks to all that have contributed to and continue to contribute to the HKMDB, it has been an ocean of info for me for so many years, I never would've got to where I am now with my own research if not for the HKMDB. I'm happy that fellow fans have appreciated my contributions so far, It's great to finally be giving back.
Cheers
To see IDs please go to "Won Jin - IDs" in the Actor Identification section.
Maybe it's something to do with his 3 film contract with David Lai, maybe his scenes couldn't be shown in HK due to some exclusivity clause. It's actually his first HK film before Saviour Of The Soul II and Operation Scorpio, but hardly anyone talks about it. 
I will get round to naming the other Korean actors in that film as there's plenty of other familiar faces.
