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On January 16, 2023, Apple TV Plus’ Pachinko starring Lee Min-ho, Kim Min-ha, Youn Yuh-jung, Jung Eun-chae, Jin Ha, Anna Sawai, and Steve Sanghyun Noh, among others, bagged the award for the Best Foreign Language Series.
The 28th Critics Choice Awards ceremony was held in Los Angeles, California on Sunday, January 15, at the Fairmont Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles, hosted by comedian Chelsea Handler.
Korean dramas Pachinko and Extraordinary Attorney Woo were nominated for the Best Foreign Language Series alongside some of the best global TV shows such as 1899, Borgen, Garcia!, The Kingdom Exodus, Kleo, My Brilliant Friend, and Tehran.
As it happens, the official Twitter account of Apple TV Plus took to the social media platform to celebrate their big win on the awards night.
Lee Min-ho’s fans celebrate Pachinko’s Best Foreign Language Series Award at the 28th Critics Choice Awards
Pachinko is the third Korean drama to win at the Critics Choice Awards. Back in 2021, Youn Yuh-jung starrer Minari, which is a poignant tale about the life of South Korean immigrants in the rural United States in the 1980s, also won the Best Foreign Language Film award.
Following Minari's win, Netflix’s mega-hit drama Squid Game starring Lee Jung-jae, Park Hae-soo, and Ho Yeon-jeong in lead roles won the award for the Best Foreign Language series in 2022. The drama centered around a survival show, where 456 contestants participated in deadly children’s games for a chance to win ₩45.6 billion or $35 million USD. And now, Pachinko has won in the aforementioned category in this year's Critics Choice Awards.
The awards ceremony was attended by Kim Min-ha, who plays the titular character Sunja, and Jin Ha, who portrays the character of Solomon Baek, who were the only actors from the cast to attend the awards ceremony.
However, Lee Min-ho, who did not attend the 28th Critical Choice Awards, took to his personal Twitter to celebrate Pachinko’s win at the awards ceremony. As per Google Translate, his tweet read:
"Drama <Pachinko> starring Lee Min-ho from #2023크리틱스초이스어워즈 USA won the Best Foreign Language Drama Award! Following 2022, also in 2023 praise and good news from around the world. The pachinko team playing, Congratulations on winning!"
As such, Lee Min-ho’s fans took to social media to celebrate Pachinko’s big win at the 28th Critics Choice Awards. Apart from congratulating the actor and the rest of the cast on their win, many users also recalled specific moments from the drama that they loved.
Lee Min-ho fans were particularly thrilled after last year's Emmys Award snub. The other Korean drama nominated was Squid Game, which bagged 14 nominations, while Pachinko only bagged the nomination for Main Title Design, which wasn’t a nomination in the main category.
Hence, fans were happy that Pachinko has gotten the rightful credit that it deserves with the 28th Critics Choice Awards. Other than that, the Korean film Decision to Leave was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film. However, RRR from India bagged the award.
Lee Min-ho starrer Pachinko begins production for season two
The epic story of Pachinko chronicles the sweeping saga of four generations of a Korean immigrant family that unfolds across Korea, Japan, and the United States through the eyes of its main protagonist (younger: Kim Min-ha, older: Youn Yuh-jung).
The heartbreakingly poignant drama is based on Korean-American author Min Jin Lee’s best-selling eponymous novel and deals with various themes like racial profiling, stereotyping, poverty, displacement of human beings and property, love, and loss in 20th century Japan-occupied Korea.
The first season of the show aired on March 25, 2022, exclusively on Apple TV+. Following the success of the first installment, the production for the second season started in November 2022. Most of the cast members are expected to rejoin the second season, with Kogonada and Justin Chon serving as directors and executive producers, respectively.
In other news, the talented Hallyu star Lee Min-ho will be starring in the space-romance drama Ask the Stars opposite Gong Hyo-jin. He will be playing the role of gynecologist Gong-ryong, who paid an astronomical amount of money to travel in space as a tourist.
There he meets captain Eve Kim (Gong Hyo-jin), the team captain, and romance blossoms between them. Ask the Stars will be broadcast in 2023.
