Chung was chief conductor of the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Saarbrücken from 1984 to 1990, and principal guest conductor of the Teatro Comunale Florence from 1987 to 1992.[3] At the end of the 1987–88 seasons, he received the Premio Abbiati award from Italian critics, and the following year awarded the Arturo Toscanini prize. Chung was the Paris Opera's music director from 1989 to 1994, during which time he opened the inaugural season at the new Opéra Bastille. He opened the inaugural season at the new Opéra Bastille with Berlioz's complete Les Troyens and received highly praised reviews from the music circle. In 1991, the Association of French Theatres and Music Critics named him "Artist of the year" and in 1992 he received the Legion d'Honneur for his contribution to the Paris Opéra. An exclusive recording artist for Deutsche Grammophon since 1990, many of his numerous recordings have won international prizes and awards. These include Olivier Messiaen's Turangalîla-Symphonie and Éclairs sur l'au-delà…, Verdi's Otello, Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique, Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk with the Bastille Opera Orchestra; a series of Dvořák's symphonies and serenades with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, a series dedicated to the great sacred music with the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, including the award-winning recording of Duruflé's and Fauré's Requiems with Cecilia Bartoli and Bryn Terfel.
In 1995 he was honoured three times at the French Victoires de la Musiques Classiques, and was also named Meilleur Chef d'Orchestre de l'Année. He directed the world premiere of Messiaen's last work: the Concert à quatre for four soloists and orchestra, which the composer had dedicated to Myung-whun Chung and the Orchestre de la Bastille.
He took the role of artistic director at the Asia Philharmonic Orchestra in 1997 and at the Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France in 2000. The Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra made Chung a Special Artistic Advisor in 2001, its Honorary Conductor Laureate from 2010, and its Honorary Music Director from 2016. Chung became the first principal guest conductor in the history of the Staatskapelle Dresden in 2012. He was the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra's principal conductor between 2005[4][5] and 2015.[6] During this period the Seoul Philharmonic became the first Asian orchestra to sign a major-label record deal[7] and gave its first performance at The Proms.[8]
In addition to being awarded numerous music prizes, Myung-whun Chung has also been honoured with Korea's most distinguished cultural award ‘Kumkwan’ for his contribution to Korean musical life and was named "Man of the year" by UNESCO. He served as Ambassador for the Drug Control Program at the United Nations and was Korea's Honorary Cultural Ambassador, the first in the Korean government's history.