'Pachinko' wins Best Foreign Language Series at Critics Choice Awards

“Pachinko” won the award for Best Foreign Language Series at the 28th Critics Choice Awards Sunday local time. At the awards ceremony held by the Critics Choice Association in Los Angeles on Sunday...

The cast of ″Pachinko″ poses in the press room with the award for Best Foreign Language Series during the 28th Annual Critics Choice Awards at the Fairmont Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles, California on January 15, 2023. [AFP]

“Pachinko” won the award for Best Foreign Language Series at the 28th Critics Choice Awards Sunday local time.

At the awards ceremony held by the Critics Choice Association in Los Angeles on Sunday, “Pachinko,” the hit Apple TV+ period drama centering on a Korean-Japanese-American family and based on the bestselling novel of the same name beat eight other nominees in the catergory.

Another Korean drama, domestically produced ENA series “Extraordinary Attorney Woo,” was also nominated in the same category. The other nominees were “1899,” “Bogen” and “Kleo” on Netflix, “Garcia!” and “My Brilliant Friend” on HBO, “The Kingdom Exodus” on MUBI and another Apple TV+ series “Tehran.”

This is the second consecutive year that a drama about Korea has garnered the Best Foreign Language Series award at the Critics Choice Awards. The Netflix megahit series “Squid Game” was the first Korea-related show to win the prize last year.

The Critics Choice Awards are held every year in January. Winners are selected by about 600 critics in the North American region.

“Pachinko” is based on the bestselling novel by Korean-American author Lee Min-jin, and spans decades of family drama and four generations of protagonists starting with the Japanese occupation of Korea and some of the family members’ immigration to the United States.

“Pachinko” has eight episodes in total and was released on Apple TV+ on March 25, 2022.

Kim Min-ha, the main protagonist of “Panchinko” who played Sunja, attended the awards ceremony along with other cast members. Park Eun-bin of “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” was also in attendance at the ceremony.

Director Park Chan-wook, whose film “Decision to Leave” was nominated for Best Foreign Film, had to leave the ceremony empty handed, as the trophy was handed to “RRR,” an Indian epic film directed by auteur S.S. Rajamouli.

The Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Park Bo-gyoon sent a congratulatory message to the production team of "Pachinko" Monday, saying in the message that the portrayal of the lives of Korean immigrants in Japan and the United States was depicted with "outstanding sensitivity."

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]