The King’s Affection is first K-drama to win an International Emmy
SEOUL – South Korean public broadcaster KBS’ romance series The King’s Affection (2021) won the Best Telenovela award at the International Emmy Awards held in New York on Monday.
Adapted from the popular webtoon Yeonmo, the period drama revolves around a fictional princess of the Joseon era (1392 to 1910). She is played by actress Park Eun-bin, star of the hit legal drama Extraordinary Attorney Woo (2022).
Park’s character in The King’s Affection keeps her identity a secret and assumes the throne on behalf of her deceased twin brother. The series also stars Rowoon of K-pop boy band SF9 and is available on Netflix in Singapore.
The Best Telenovela category recognises excellence in telenovelas produced and initially aired outside of the United States.
The King’s Affection was nominated alongside Brazil’s Nos Tempos Do Imperador (In Emperor’s Time), Chinese romance drama You Are My Hero and Spanish soap opera Two Lives. It is the first K-drama to win at the International Emmys.
The show also won awards at the Seoul Drama Awards and Korea Broadcasting Prizes in 2021.
South Korean celebrities such as Song Joong-ki, Im Si-wan, Rain and Lee Sun-kyun also walked the red carpet at the ceremony.
Song presented the International Emmy Directorate Award to Ms Miky Lee, vice-chairman of CJ Group.
Lee Sun-kyun was nominated for Best Performance by an Actor for his role as a scientist in the sci-fi thriller Dr Brain, but lost to Scottish actor Dougray Scott of Irvine Welsh’s Crime.
In September, the dystopian drama Squid Game (2021) was also the first non-English television series to receive nominations and to win at the Primetime Emmy Awards.
It received 14 nominations, winning six of them, including Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for Lee Jung-jae, Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for Hwang Dong-hyuk and Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for Lee Yoo-mi.- THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now