Will K-pop boy band BTS receive South Korea’s Order of Cultural Merit?
The culture ministry says by topping the Billboard 200 with its album ‘Love Yourself: Tear’, the band rewrote K-pop history
K-pop sensation BTS has been nominated for the Order of Cultural Merit. The seven-member boy band that topped the Billboard 200 with their album “Love Yourself: Tear” has been included on the list of this year’s nominees with 11 others, including legendary folk singer-songwriter Kim Min-ki, the late iconic folk singer Jo Dong-jin and veteran actor Lee Soon-jae, according to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
The Order of Cultural Merit awarded by the President of Korea is bestowed upon those who have done “outstanding meritorious services in the fields of culture and art in the interest of promoting the national culture and national development”.
The culture ministry said, “BTS has earned great recognition in the US, Japan and other overseas markets, contributing to hallyu. Most of its members are singer-songwriter idols. By topping the Billboard 200 with its album ‘Love Yourself: Tear’, the band rewrote K-pop history.”
Hallyu means “The Korean Wave”, referring to K-drama and K-pop gaining recognition in Asia and then spreading internationally via the internet, social media and YouTube.
If BTS, debuting in 2013, receives the Order, it will become the first idol band and youngest recipients of the award. BTS previously received a commendation from the culture ministry in 2016. The Order of Cultural Merit is a higher honour than the commendation.
While BTS and many other artists including Big Bang, EXO and Girls’ Generation have received commendations, no idol group has been awarded an Order of Cultural Merit. PSY, who ranked in second place on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with his viral hit song Gangnam Style, was bestowed the Order of Cultural Merit in 2012.
BTS debuted in 2013 and received a commendation from the culture ministry in 2016.
After its commendation in 2016, BTS continued to expand its clout on the global music scenes. The band won the Billboard Top Social Artist Award twice in a row in 2017 and 2018, becoming the first K-pop group to win the fan-voted prize twice.
It also topped the Billboard Top 200 album chart with its third album “Love Yourself: Tear” in May and became the first K-pop group to rise to the top of the US mainstream chart. The album remains on the Billboard 200 Chart for a record 11 consecutive weeks as of now.
The winners of the 2018 Korean Popular Culture & Arts Awards will be announced in October. The awards, first presented in 2010, are aimed to raise the social status of the popular culture industry.
Former awardees of the Order of Cultural Merit include K-pop legend Cho Yong-pil and Song Hae, a 91 year-old host of 30 years for the music show, National Singing Contest. Most recently, the late Choi In-hun, the award-winning author best known for his 1960 novel The Square, posthumously received the highest cultural honour.
BTS is currently preparing to make a comeback for its repackaged album “Love Yourself: Answer” on August 24. After the album release, the band will launch its “Love Yourself” world tour, beginning with a Seoul concert at Olympic Stadium in Jamsil on August 25 and 26. More than 90,000 tickets for the Seoul concerts have been sold and the concerts have reportedly been sold out.
