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TV Networks Hand Out Awards

By Bae Keun-min
Staff Reporter


The three major broadcasting networks KBS, MBC and SBS rang out 2005 with various music and television awards of their own in the past week.

Singer Kim Jong-kook, former member of the duo Turbo who released his third album as a solo artist in 2005, swept the top music awards handed out by the networks. Kim won the top prize at SBS Music Awards, KBS Music Awards and MBC Music Festival.

Kim released his latest album "This Is Me" in June, which has sold about 200,000 copies. Kim had three hit songs from the album, including "You're Lovable (Sarangsurowo)".

Kim debuted as part of Turbo in 1995, putting out five albums with rapper and singer Mikey. He released his first solo album in 2001.

At the SBS Music Awards on Thursday, Kim and Mikey surprised viewers with a reunion performance of their top hits as Turbo.

MBC Music Festival was a last-minute replacement for MBC's Top 10 Kayo Musician Festival, which was cancelled early last month due to the lack of participation by some top K-pop singers. The network said the replacement MBC program would not be an awards event but it ended up handing out prizes during the show.

The MBC show still had many of the top K-pop artists taking part, including Kim, Koyote, SS501 and Epik High.

Drama Queens Rule

At the awards for drama actors and actresses, the heroine of the drama series with the highest viewer rating for each network won the top prize, except KBS.

Surprisingly enough, Kim Myung-min won the Grand Prix at the 2005 KBS actors awards on the New Year's eve for his performance of the title role in "Immortal Admiral Yi Sun-shin" (Pulmyorui Isunsin), an epic biography about the admiral in the Choson Kingdom.

Kim received the top award after competing with Choi Jin-sil, who played the title role of "My Rosy Life (Changmitpit Insaeng)". Choi celebrated with the Best Actress Award for her performance in portraying Maeng-soon, a middle-aged woman who dies of cancer. Kim Hae-sook, who played the birth mother of Maeng-soon, shared the Best Actress Award with Choi.

The Best Actor Award went to Choi Soo-jong, the lead of the epic "Emperor of The Sea" (Haesin), which portrayed the life of the heroic sea trader Changpogo in the unified Silla Kingdom era in the mid 800s.

However, actors and actresses in "My Rosy Life" that marked the highest 47 percent in viewer rating among KBS dramas this year, won nine awards combined at the ceremony, including the Excellent Male Performance for Son Hyun-joo and the Best Supporting Actress for Lee Tae-ran.

At the SBS ceremony on Saturday, Jeon Do-yeon, the heroine of "Lovers in Prague", won the Grand Prix. "Lovers" ended with its highest viewer rating of 31 percent last November according to TNS Media Korea.

Kim Joo-hyuk was awarded Best Actor for his role detective Sang-hyun in "Lovers in Prague", who falls in love with Jeon's character Jae-hee, a diplomat and a daughter of a South Korean president.

Kim Mi-sook grabbed the Best Actress prize, thanks to her radiant lead in the morning drama "Conditions of Queen".

However, it was all about "My Lovely Samsoon" - "My Name is Kim Sam-soon" which marked this year's highest viewer rating of 50.5 percent among all TV dramas, at the MBC awards on Friday night.

Kim Sun-a, the female lead of the drama, was selected for the Grand Prize out of four candidates, namely Hyun Bin, Han Hye-jin and singer-turned-actor Eric Mun. The four also were awarded the Best Actor or the Best Actress.

Hyeon played a high-profile French restaurant owner, three years younger than Sam-soon, who falls in love with her. Han portrayed a young widow in her early 20s striving hard as a hairdresser in "Be Strong, Geum-Soon!" Eric Mun attracted many female viewers in "Super Rookie".

"Samsoon", which depicts a 30-year-old patissiere looking for the love of her life and success in her career, dominated the awards with eight prizes. The four main actors and actresses in the soap, including actress Jung Ryeo-won and actor Daniel Henney, went home with at least one prize.

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