Producer Baek Heon-seok, Who Spread Korean Cuisine with the 'Rhapsody' Series, Awarded the Order of Cultural Merit

President's Citation Awarded to Iconix CEO Choi Jong-il and Director Lee Jae-gyu

Baek Heon-seok, CEO of ELTV who produced various food culture programs, will be awarded the Order of Cultural Merit.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Creative Content Agency will hold the Korea Content Awards ceremony on the 14th at COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Awards and commendations will be given to individuals or works that have illuminated the content industry and brought inspiration and joy to the public. This year, there are twenty-one awardees and fifteen awarded works.

CEO Baek, who will receive the Order of Cultural Merit, is a food culture specialist producer. He created programs such as "Cooking and Seeing the World" and "Find Delicious TV." Recently, he has been promoting Korean food culture worldwide through works like "Samgyeopsal Rhapsody," "Naengmyeon Rhapsody," and "Hanwoo Rhapsody." The Ministry of Culture explained, "He contributed to spreading Korean cuisine overseas and re-examining Korean food culture globally."

In the overseas advancement merit category, Jang Jeong-sook, CEO of Red Ice Studio, and Choi Jong-il, CEO of ICONIX, will receive the Presidential Citation. CEO Jang is a businessperson who discovered many comic artists through the 'Champ Rookie Cartoonist Award' contest in the 1990s. She also leads the secondary use of content intellectual property (IP) by producing spin-offs such as "Mom is a Best Friend," a spin-off of "Hello?! Jadoo!!". Recently, she has driven the globalization of Korean webtoons through works like "Solo Leveling" and "Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint." CEO Choi founded ICONIX in 2001 and produced representative Korean animations such as "Pororo the Little Penguin" and "Tayo the Little Bus." These works have been sold to 160 countries and continue to enjoy steady popularity.

In the broadcasting and video industry development merit category, director Lee Jae-gyu, who directed "All of Us Are Dead," and producer Choi Jung-nam of CJ ENM, who created "Street Woman Fighter," will receive the Presidential Citation. "All of Us Are Dead," produced by director Lee, ranked third in Netflix's all-time non-English television series viewership due to its fast-paced plot and breathtaking suspense. "Street Woman Fighter," directed by producer Choi, detailed the solidarity among female dancers and various forms of leadership, providing an opportunity to re-examine the profession of "dancer," which had been hidden behind the scenes.

The Presidential Citation for the game industry development merit goes to Lee Young-il, CEO of HaeGin, and Kim Dong-gyu, CEO of HiDeer. CEO Lee provides domestic and international services for mobile sports battle games such as "Home Run Clash," "Extreme Golf," and the metaverse mobile game "Play Together." The latter has accumulated 130 million downloads. CEO Kim developed various games including "Cat and Soup," boasting 20 million users, as well as "Undead Slayer" and "Rogue Life."

In the animation category, "Taeil-i" will receive the Presidential Award. The work depicts the footsteps of the martyr Jeon Tae-il. With high quality, it re-examines the historical value of modern and contemporary history and has already won the Jury Special Prize at the Annecy Animation Festival and the Audience Award at the Fantasia International Film Festival in Canada.

The Presidential Award in the character category is given to Lotte Homeshopping's "Bellygom." It is a character loved by about 1.2 million subscribers on social networking services (SNS). The giant sculpture installed near Seokchon Lake attracted 3 million visitors, becoming a hot topic.

In the comics category, the webtoon "Future Antique Shop" by artist Gu Ah-jin receives the Presidential Award. The story follows Mirae, a girl living on a cursed island, who fights against the evil spirit Baekmyeon trying to destroy the world and lifts the island's curse. It has been praised by readers, media, and critics for its solid storyline and excellent artwork.