South Korea is celebrating a cultural milestone after the animated film KPop Demon Hunters won two Oscars at the Academy Awards on Sunday, taking home prizes for best animated feature and best original song. Local media hailed the achievement as a 'miracle' that underscores the country’s growing global cultural influence.
The Netflix hit, which became the platform’s most-watched film with over 500 million views, is an American production co-directed by Korean-Canadian Maggie Kang. It features several Korean and Korean-American voice actors and draws heavily on Korean aesthetics and traditional culture. Film critic Youn Sung-Eun told Yonhap that the film’s sweep of the Golden Globes, Grammys and Oscars shows global recognition of both its popularity and artistic merit.
At the Oscars ceremony, the film’s anthem Golden, which won best original song, was performed with 24 dancers, pansori vocals and drumming. Stars including Leonardo DiCaprio, Steven Spielberg and Emma Stone were seen waving K-pop light sticks in the audience. Film critic Lee Dong-jin was quoted in the Chosun Ilbo as saying that 'even if the South Korean government had tried to buy that prime-time slot, such a performance would have been impossible.'
Kang’s tearful acceptance speech, in which she declared 'this is for Korea and Koreans everywhere,' was widely reported. However, the jubilation was somewhat undercut by anger over the ceremony’s treatment of the co-writers of Golden. After singer-songwriter Ejae delivered her acceptance speech, the orchestra immediately began playing them off stage, preventing the songwriters from speaking despite holding prepared notes.
Tourism data suggests the film’s impact extends beyond entertainment. South Korea recorded 18.9 million foreign visitors in 2025, an all-time high that officials partly attributed to tourists keen to see locations featured in the film.
