From left, actor-writer Cha In-pyo, Cs President Didier Beltoise, Samyang Meals Vice Chair Kim Jung-soo and The Black Label CEO Jeong Kyung-in pose for a photograph throughout the 2026 Korea Picture Awards at Westin Seoul Parnas in Gangnam District, Seoul, Thursday. Courtesy of Corea Picture Communication Institute
Netflix’s international animated sensation “KPop Demon Hunters” took heart stage on the twenty second Korea Picture Awards held Thursday in Seoul, tying for 2 of the three high honors, highlighting how pop music, heritage and meals proceed to form Korea’s cultural presence on the worldwide stage.
Organized yearly by the Corea Picture Communication Institute (CICI), the awards honor people, objects and organizations that formed Korea’s international picture over the previous 12 months, highlighting the continued resonance and evolution of Korean tradition worldwide.
The Stepping Stone Award, introduced to people or corporations which have contributed to selling Korea’s picture abroad, went to Okay-pop company The Black Label. The label’s in-house manufacturing workforce helped produce the soundtrack for “KPop Demon Hunters,” together with the smash hit “Golden” and different viral tracks reminiscent of “How It is Achieved,” “Soda Pop” and “Your Idol.”
CEO of The Black Label Jeong Kyung-in, left, poses after receiving the Korea Picture Stepping Stone Award from Cs President Didier Beltoise on the 2026 Korea Picture Awards ceremony in Seoul, Thursday. Courtesy of Corea Picture Communication Institute
Company CEO Jeong Kyung-in accepted the consideration on behalf of the corporate and its govt producer Teddy, who was unable to attend. In his acceptance speech, Jeong famous the corporate signed onto the challenge practically three years earlier than its launch, with out anticipating the dimensions of its international response.
“An animation infused with Korean tradition created a worldwide response and helped introduce Korean music to a broader viewers,” he stated, including that the corporate goals to “stay centered on music manufacturing whereas contributing to the expansion of the broader cultural business.”
This 12 months’s awards had been introduced by Didier Beltoise, president of hospitality consulting agency Cs and husband of CICI Chairperson Choi Jung-wha. Cs additionally collaborates with CICI on international efforts to advertise Korean tradition.
The Firestone Award, which acknowledges folks or objects that reignite conventional parts inside Okay-content, was awarded to the normal Korean horsehair hat “gat.” The merchandise drew renewed consideration after showing within the movie, worn by the fictional Okay-pop boy band Saja Boys.
Actor and creator Cha In-pyo accepted the award. Cha, who debuted as an creator with “As soon as We Have a look at the Similar Star” in 2009 — a guide later chosen as required studying for Korean Research on the College of Oxford — gained the Hwang Solar-won Literature Prize for his novel “Mermaid Hunt” in 2025.
He emphasised that the gat represents extra than simply an artifact, embodying self-discipline and posture of Joseon-era (1392-1910) noble folks.
“When you truly put on it, it restricts your motion greater than you anticipate,” he stated. “It turns into one thing that makes you mirror in your mindset and angle.”
Actor and creator Cha In-pyo, proper, and Cs President Didier Beltoise maintain the Korea Picture Firestone Award for “gat,” the normal Joseon-era hat, throughout the 2026 Korea Picture Awards ceremony at a resort in southern Seoul, Thursday. Courtesy of Corea Picture Communication Institute
Whereas the awards highlighted the facility of storytelling, the Concord Pebble Award went to a really totally different ambassador of Korean tradition — meals.
Samyang Meals Vice Chairman Kim Jung-soo accepted the consideration on behalf of Buldak noodles, the spicy chicken-flavored ramen model that has gained an enormous international following.
Kim described Buldak because the product that helped Samyang overcome years of hardship and reposition itself internationally after its launch in 2012.
“When Buldak reached eating tables world wide, the quiet ripples became one thing a lot bigger,” he stated, likening its unfold to the rise of Okay-culture itself.
Vice chair of Samyang Meals Kim Jung-soo, proper, accepts the Korea Picture Concord Pebble Award for Buldak noodles from Cs President Didier Beltoise on the 2026 Korea Picture Awards ceremony in southern Seoul, Thursday. Courtesy of Corea Picture Communication Institute
The 2026 occasion drew distinguished figures together with Poongsan Group Chairman Jin Roy Ryu, CJ Group Chairman Sohn Kyung-shik and star chef Edward Lee, final 12 months’s Stepping Stone Bridge Award winner.
Celebratory toasts had been delivered by Sohn, actor Park Joong-hoon, New Zealand Ambassador to Korea Daybreak Bennet and Belgian Ambassador to Korea Bruno Jans.
The night closed with a nod to custom, as singer Seodo of sEODo Band took the stage in crimson to mark the Yr of the Purple Horse. The singer carried out pansori-influenced songs together with “Baennorae” and “Sarang-ga,” drawing enthusiastic applause from the viewers.
