Blackpink has become the first K-pop girl group to receive South Korea’s Okgwan, or Jade Crown, Order of Cultural Merit, the fourth class of the country’s top cultural honor. The award arrived at the 17th Korea Popular Culture and Arts Awards in Seoul on Oct. 29, in the group’s 10th anniversary year.
A milestone for the government honor
The ceremony is hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and organized by the Korea Creative Content Agency. Thirty-six individuals and teams were honored this year, including ten Order of Cultural Merit recipients. Comedian Yoo Jae-suk and singer Han Young-ae took the Bogwan order, while the late Shin Hae-chul was named for the Silver Crown. Blackpink members could not attend as a group because of individual schedules, so a YG Entertainment representative accepted on their behalf. In a video message the members thanked their fandom, Blink, and promised to keep comforting listeners through music.
K-beauty now sells as content
On the business side, Korean beauty is being packaged as entertainment. CJ Olive Young launched Green Room, a live commerce show built around K-pop comebacks, and said its album category grew 152 percent from January to September. Musinsa will open a beauty-focused store in Seongsu with roughly 700 brands on Nov. 11. Meanwhile K-food keeps expanding: global chains from Pizza Hut Poland to Shake Shack in the United States are adding kimchi and gochujang menus, and Korean food exports reached a record 13.62 billion dollars last year.
What to watch next
K-fashion and K-drama travel together this month. Musinsa drew 15,000 visitors in three days at its Osaka pop-up, with the brands global store volume in the city up 641 percent year on year. On Netflix, Lee Chang-dong’s Possible Love arrives Nov. 6 as South Korea’s official Oscar entry, and the Korea-Japan crime thriller Blue Road, starring Son Suk-ku and Eita Nagayama, lands Nov. 20.
Sources
- SBS News — Blackpink becomes first K-pop girl group to receive Order of Cultural Merit
- The Korea Times — Olive Young launches K-pop live shopping show
- The Dong-A Ilbo — Global restaurant chains embrace Korean flavors
- Seoul Economic Daily — Musinsa pop-up draws 15,000 in Osaka
- What’s on Netflix — New K-Dramas on Netflix in November 2026
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