In 2000, Park directed Joint Security Area, which was a great success both commercially and critically, even surpassing Kang Je-gyu’s Shiri as the then most-watched film ever made in South Korea. This success made it possible for Park to make his next film more independently. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance is the result of this creative freedom.

Since 2004, Park has been an owner of the filmmaking company Moho Film, which participated in the production of Snowpiercer (2013) and The Handmaiden (2016).

Park’s unofficially-titled Vengeance Trilogy consists of Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002), Oldboy (2003) and Lady Vengeance (2005). It was not originally intended to be a trilogy. Park won the Grand Prix at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival for Oldboy. The films concern the utter futility of vengeance and how it wreaks havoc on the lives of those involved. Lady Vengeance was distributed by Tartan Films for the United States theatrical release in April 2006. American director Quentin Tarantino is an avowed fan of Park. As the head judge at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival, he personally pushed for Park’s Oldboy to be awarded the Palme d’Or (the honour eventually went to Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11). Oldboy garnered the Grand Prix, Cannes’s second-highest honour. Tarantino also regards Park’s Joint Security Area to be one of ‘the top twenty films made since 1992’.

In 2006, Park was the member of official section jury at the 63rd Venice International Film Festival.

In February 2007, Park won the Alfred Bauer Prize at the 57th Berlin International Film Festival. The award, named after the festival’s founder and in praise of works that introduce new perspectives, went to Park for his film, I’m a Cyborg, But That’s OK.

In 2009, Park directed the vampire film Thirst, starring Song Kang-ho, which won the Prix du Jury (alongside Fish Tank, directed by Andrea Arnold) at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. He considered directing Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy but ultimately turned it down.

In 2011, Park said his new fantasy-horror film Paranmanjang (Night Fishing) was shot entirely on the iPhone. The film was co-directed with Park’s younger brother, Park Chan-kyong, who had no prior directing experience. It was nominated for Berlinale Shorts during the 2011 Berlin Film Festival and won the Golden Bear for Best Short Film.

In 2013, Park directed his first English-language film, Stoker. He said he learned to accelerate the production process and completed filming in 480 hours. Although Park does speak English, he used an interpreter on set. On why the script attracted his attention, Park said: “It wasn’t a script that tried to explain everything and left many things as questions, so it leads the audience to find answers for themselves, and that’s what I liked about the script… I like telling big stories through small, artificially created worlds”. On 2 March 2013, Park appeared on a panel discussion about the film Stoker held at the Freer Gallery of Art in the Smithsonian’s Museums of Asian Art.

In 2014, Park directed a short film commissioned by luxury brand Ermenegildo Zegna, co-written by himself, Ayako Fujitani, Chung Chung-hoon and Michael Werwie, scored by Clint Mansell, and starring Jack Huston and Daniel Wu. It screened at the Rome International Film Festival and the Busan International Film Festival.

In September 2014, it was announced that Park would adapt Fingersmith, a historical crime novel by Sarah Waters. The film entered production in mid-2015 and ended on 31 October 2015. That film ended up becoming The Handmaiden and premiered in competition to rave reviews at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, where Artistic Director Seong-hie Ryu won the Vulcain Prize for the Technical Arts, and the film was nominated for both the Palme d’ Or and Queer Palm. At the 2016 Buil Film Awards, The Handmaiden won for Best New Actress (Tae-ri Kim), The Buil Readers’ Jury Award and Best Art Direction (Seong-hie Ryu). The film holds a 95% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and saw box office success in several countries, including South Korea, the United States and the United Kingdom.

In October 2014, it was announced that Park had signed on to direct the sci-fi body-swap film, Second Born.

In January 2018, it was reported that Park would direct a TV miniseries adaptation of The Little Drummer Girl, a novel by John le Carré. It aired on BBC One in October of that year and stars Michael Shannon, Florence Pugh and Alexander Skarsgård. At the 24th Busan International Film Festival, Park announced that he is writing scripts for feature films, for theater and for TV, including a new installment in Vengeance Trilogy, and a second adaptation of Donald E. Westlake’s novel The Axe. In May 2020, it was announced that he was working on his next film’s screenplay, tentatively titled Heeojil gyeolsim (The Decision to Break Up). It is described as a melodrama and will star Tang Wei and Park Hae-il.