What’s new, who’s missing and what to watch at Friday’s Baeksang Awards

The Baeksang Awards are back! The 62nd edition of Korea’s only major awards ceremony honoring film, television and theater airs Friday.

Buzzworthy topics include: the showdown between Korea’s second most watched film and one of the country’s most prominent filmmakers; the absence of one of its top comedians; and the return of Netflix’s hit unscripted programs. Plus, in an exciting moment for musicals, a new competitive division has been added.

Here’s what to know ahead of this year's Baeksang Awards.

Could Korea’s highest-grossing film win Best Movie?

“The King’s Warden” became the highest-grossing movie in Korean box office history in March, even before it became the country's second-most watched film in April. The movie about the exile of deposed King Danjong (1441-57) recorded 16.8 million admissions as of Tuesday, trailing only behind the war epic “The Admiral: Roaring Currents” (2014). 

The period piece, competing in seven categories including Best Movie, director and actor, is tied with Park Chan-wook’s black comedy thriller “No Other Choice” (2025) for most nominations.

Of course, commercial success doesn’t necessarily mean awards, though the Baeksang does take popularity into account. Critical reviews for “The King's Warden” were mostly lukewarm. The computer-generated tiger — whose production was rushed, director Jang Hang-jun admits — was slammed for its awkward visuals, prompting producers to make a version with updated graphics for release on streaming platforms after its box office run.

Film magazine Cine21's analysts gave “The King’s Warden” a 6.57 out of 10, the lowest among the contenders for Best Movie. The average for the five nominees is 7.43, while “No Other Choice” received a 7.17. On media rating platform Watchapedia, where over 940,000 viewers left reviews, “The King’s Warden” received an average rating of 3.2 out of 5, where three stars are considered “mediocre” and 3.5 and above are deemed “worth seeing.”

Meanwhile, “No Other Choice” received nods at the Golden Globes and the Critics Choice Awards and was short-listed for best international feature at the Academy Awards, a distinction that has been a favorable sign at the Baeksang Awards: Two of Korea’s three Oscar-shortlisted films later won best film. Domestically, the film won Park best director at last year’s Blue Dragon Film Awards, another prestigious film accolade.

Yu Jae-seok is out of the picture. Who’s best entertainer now?

Yu’s absence created a bit of a stir after the nominees for Best Male Entertainer were announced, as the comedic heavyweight has been a constant presence in Korea’s entertainment scene as the host of high-rating programs including MBC’s “Hangout with Yoo” (2019-), SBS’s “Running Man” (2010-) and tvN talk show “You Quiz on the Block” (2018-). 

Fans of the comedian signed a petition calling on Baeksang organizers to provide “detailed” nomination criteria and explain “why Yu Jae-seok and his content, despite their strong buzz and performance, were excluded from all major nominee lists,” particularly his work on YouTube — by far Korea's dominant video platform.

Yu headed both YouTube series “Punghyanggo” (2024-), which won Best Variety Show last year and “Pinggyego” (2022-), nominated for the same category last year. Speaking of YouTube, not a single show from the video-sharing platform was named for a Baeksang, breaking a streak of wins and nominations since web content became eligible for competition in 2023. 

Instead, entertainers who didn’t get their start in traditional comedy continued to make their presence known. Kian84, originally a webtoonist (his last work finished in 2017), and volleyball legend Kim Yeon-koung were nominated for both best entertainer and Best Variety Show with “Extreme84” (2025-26) and “The Wonder Coach” (2025), respectively, while model Hong Jin-kyung and martial artist Choo Sung-hoon received best entertainer nods. All four starred in programs that heavily centered on their personas and highlighted former professions, while professional comedians like Kwak Beom and returning nominees Lee Su-ji and Kim Won-hun thrived on parodies and skits.

Netflix scores with sequels

Netflix’s cooking reality show “Culinary Class Wars” (2024-) returned in 2025 with a second clash of top chefs, again topping global charts and fueling a surge of interest in fine dining. In “The Echoes of Survivors: Inside Korea’s Tragedies” (2025), victims of abuse by Jeong Myeong-seok, the founder of religious cult Christian Gospel Mission, share new testimony of the organization’s atrocities. Their cases drew national attention after the cult was exposed in the preceding 2023 docuseries “In the Name of God: A Holy Betrayal.”

The first season of “Culinary Class Wars” won the Grand Prize in the Broadcast Category last year, while “In the Name of God: A Holy Betrayal” was nominated for Best Educational Program in 2023. 

Both series, whose first seasons prompted wider social and cultural reckoning, were again nominated in their respective categories. Whether they can repeat that success is another question. Second seasons have won at the Baeksang Awards, but rarely; seasonal programming was once uncommon in Korea, though it has gained traction with the rise of streaming platforms.

Themes of personal growth and emotional pain, alongside romance, ran through the nominated series for Best Drama. tvN's “Our Unwritten Seoul” (2025) and Netflix's “You and Everything Else” (2025) centered on women's relationships — sisters in one, friends in the other — while JTBC's “The Dream Life of Mr. Kim” (2025) explored the loneliness of a familiar family breadwinner.

Public broadcasters failed to win any nominations for Best Drama but once again dominated in the Best Educational Program category with KBS taking three spots.

Well, hello, musicals!

The biggest change to the Baeksang Awards is the addition of musicals, marking the ceremony’s first new competitive division since television was added in 1974. 

The inaugural division will recognize productions that premiered in Korea and staged at least seven performances over the past year. It will hand out awards for Best Musical, Creative Achievement — covering choreography, directing, playwriting and original score — and one gender-neutral Best Performer prize.

A strong contender for Best Musical is “Man in Hanbok,” which imagines the real-life 15th-century inventor Jang Yeong-sil traveling to Florence, Italy, and whose score weaves traditional Korean musical elements with Western orchestrations. It won the grand prize, among others, at the 10th Korea Musical Awards. 

Also nominated for Best Musical is “Laika” — another grand prize nominee at the Korea Musical Awards — “Arang” and “Red Hare; Jeokto.”

Comedian Shin Dong-yup and actors Bae Suzy and Park Bo-gum will return to host this year’s ceremony at Coex in Gangnam District, southern Seoul. The event, hosted by the JoongAng Group, will air live on JTBC, JTBC2 and JTBC4. 

BY KIM JU-YEON [[email protected]]