Miky Lee Receives Asian Hall of Fame Lifetime Achievement Medal
Lee Soo-man presented the Centennial Medal to the CJ Group vice chair in Los Angeles, calling her the godmother of K-culture.
Miky Lee, vice chair of Korea's CJ Group, received the Asian Hall of Fame's Centennial Medal of Lifetime Achievement at a ceremony in Los Angeles, according to Variety. K-pop pioneer Lee Soo-man, founder of SM Entertainment and now a key producer at A2O Entertainment, presented the medal.
Lee Soo-man called Miky Lee the godmother of K-culture during the ceremony. The Asian Hall of Fame said she was recognized for more than 30 years of connecting Korea with audiences abroad through film, music and television.
The 22nd induction ceremony also honored Blackpink's Rosé and Japanese baseball great Nomo Hideo. Guests included hip-hop artists Tiger JK and Yoon Mi-rae, X Japan leader Yoshiki, KPop Demon Hunters director Maggie Kang, Academy Museum of Motion Pictures director and president Amy Homma, writer-director-producer Lisa Joy, and Locarno Film Festival president Maja Hoffmann.
A career spanning film, music and television
Lee has worked with filmmakers including Hwang Dong-hyuk, Park Chan-wook, Bong Joon Ho and Lee Chang-dong, and cited Lee Isaac Chung and Celine Song. In 2020, Parasite, on which she was an executive producer, became the first film not in English to win the best picture Oscar, taking four Academy Awards in total.
Her earlier work at CJ dates back decades. In 1995, when CJ was still known as a food company, she helped steer its DreamWorks investment. CGV, Korea's first multiplex, opened in 1998, followed by a move into cable TV and the launch of production house Studio Dragon.
The MAMA Awards began in 1999 as the Mnet Video Music Awards, and KCON launched in the U.S. in 2012, growing from a K-pop festival into a convention covering Korean food, beauty and lifestyle. At the same event a year before this ceremony, Lee introduced Lee Soo-man and called him the godfather of K-pop.