The 2025 Korea Drama Awards were held at the Gyeongnam Culture and Arts Center in Jinju, Gyeongsangnam-do, South Korea, on Saturday, October 11. Celebrating the 16th edition of the annual K-drama ceremony, the organising committee opened fan voting for seven main categories and six popularity categories from August 28 to September 22.
With the event live-streamed on the Korea Drama Festival (KDF) YouTube channel at 5 pm KST, fans flooded social media with their instant reactions to the big winning announcements. The main awards ceremony took place on the second day of the ten-day Korea Drama Festival, which was first launched in 2006. It honoured remarkable contributions across 92 shows aired over the past year across national broadcasters, cable channels, OTT and more.
16th Korea Drama Awards: Yook Sung Jae beats Park Bo Gum and Park Hyung Sik
An intense competition among some of the best talents in the industry had the likes of beloved stars Park Hyung Sik, Park Bo Gum, Yook Sung Jae, Park Bo Young, IU, Kim So Hyun and other vying for the top-coveted honours of the day.
Contrary to other award shows falling back on Park Hyung Sik or Park Bo Gum for the Best Actor honour, the 16th KDA swung the other way by granting that title to singer-actor Yook Sung Jae (of K-pop group BTOB) instead. Other nominees in the category were Kang Ha Neul (Squid Game 2/3, Tastefully Yours), Ahn Jae Wook (For Eagle Brothers) and Yoo Yeon Seok (When the Phone Rings).
On the flip side, Park Bo Young secured the Top Excellence Award (Actress), thereby besting her category rivals Lee Se Young (What Comes After Love, Motel California), IU (When Life Gives You Tangerines), Lim Ji Yeon (The Tale of Lady Ok) and Chae Soo Bin (When the Phone Rings) and Han Ji Min (Heavenly Ever After, Love Scout).
Last year’s breakout star Byeon Woo Seok of Lovely Runner emerged as a big winner on Saturday despite not having made any K-drama comeback in 2025. He took home two popularity awards, namely Hot Star Award (Male) and Global Star Award, as fans desperately await his return to the small screen in a new project. Meanwhile, Chung Su Bin of Friendly Rivalry snagged the Hot Star Award in the female category.
2025 Korea Drama Awards winners list
Best New Actor: Choo Young Woo for The Tale of Lady Ok, Head Over Heels and Heo Nam Joon for When the Phone Rings, When the Stars Gossip
Best New Actress: Chung Su Bin for Friendly Rivalry and Hong Hwa Yeon for Buried Hearts, Tastefully Yours, I Am a Running Mate
Best Picture (Drama): Our Movie
Excellence in Acting Award (Male): Lee Hyun Wook for Shark: The Storm, The Queen Who Crowns
Excellence in Acting Award (Female): Kim Ji Yeon for The Haunted Palace
Best Actor / Top Excellence: Yook Sung Jae for The Haunted Palace
Best Actress / Top Excellence: Park Bo Young for Our Unwritten Seoul
Multi-tainer Award: Park Jae Chan (as seen Bitter Sweet Hell, Check-In Hanyang)
Best Villain: Oh Jung Se for Good Boy
Best Couple: Lee Hyeri and Chung Su Bin for Friendly Rivalry
Hot Star Award (Actor): Byeon Woo Seok (as seen in Lovely Runner)
Hot Star Award (Actress): Chung Su Bin (as seen in Friendly Rivalry)
Global Star Award: Byeon Woo Seok
Best OST: Young Tak – “Unpredictable Life” for For Eagle Brothers
Lifetime Achievement Award: Kim Yong Rim
Grand Prize (Daesang): Ahn Jae Wook for For Eagle Brothers
Watch the full 16th Korea Drama Awards ceremony: