His debut feature film was The Moon Is... the Sun's Dream (1992), and after five years, he made his second film Trio. Park's early films were not successful at the box office, and he pursued a career as a film critic to make a living.

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 most-watched film ever made in South Korea. This success made it possible for him to make his next film more independently - Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance is the result of this creative freedom.

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 honor eventually went to Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11). Oldboy garnered the Grand Prix, the second-highest honor in the competition. Tarantino also regards Park's Joint Security Area to be one of "the top twenty films made since 1992."

In 2006, he 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 movies opening up new perspectives, went to Park for his film, I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK.

In 2009, Park directed his first vampire film, Thirst starring Song Kang-ho which won Prix du Jury along with 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 never had any experience on film directing. It was nominated for Berlinale Shorts during the 2011 Berlin Film Festival, which won 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 March 2, 2013, Park appeared on a panel discussion about the movie Stoker, held at the Freer Gallery of Art in the Smithsonian's Museums of Asian Art.

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

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 October 31, 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 also where it got nominated for both the Palme d'Or and Queer Palm; the film also won Best New Actress (Tae-ri Kim), The Buil Readers' Jury Award and Best Art Directin (Seong-hie Ryu) at the 2016 Buil Film Awards. The film also enjoyed box office successes in several countries, such as South Korea, United States and United Kingdom.