The 52nd Daejong Film Awards experienced an unprecedented incident where nine top actors and actresses may have opted out of attending the ceremony.
In a strong move, stars who were nominated in the Best Actor and Actress categories announced that they may be unable to attend the event, which is also known as the Grand Bell Awards.
Star News broke the story, which dominated Korean entertainment headlines on November 19. According to the report, "Veteran" stars Yoo Ah In and Hwang Jung Min would not be present for the ceremony. "Veteran" is one of the highest grossing films of 2015 and Yoo was also nominated for his role in the critically-acclaimed period film, "The Throne."
Other performers who were nominated in the Best Actor category who declined to attend the award program included Son Hyun Joo (Chronicles of Evil) and Ha Jung Woo (Assassination).
Jun Ji Hyun, who was previously announced as an attendee for the ceremony, was also included on the list of stars who would not be present. The "Assassination" star was joined by other Best Actress nominees including Uhm Jung Hwa (Wonderful Nightmare), Han Hyo Joo (Beauty Inside), Kim Hye Soo (Coin Locker Girl) who were included on the list of stars would not be attending the ceremony.
The potential boycott follows an announcement by the Daejong Film Awards organizers that actors who did not attend the ceremony would not receive honors.
According to a report published on October 15 by the Korea Times, the Daejong Film Awards proclaimed a no show, no award policy for the first-time ever.
"As a festivity of the whole nation, it is undesirable to make someone accept the award on someone else's behalf," said an official for the Daejong Film Awards, in a statement published by the Korea Times. "If the prize winner is not present, the award will go to another person."
Without the attendance of top stars, the relevance of the awards is being questioned by domestic audiences.
In addition to the aforementioned actors, Hallyu star Kim Soo Hyun, who led the popularity award with 79.1 percent, also announced his inability to attend the ceremony due to scheduling conflicts.
EDaily obtained a statement from his agency, Key East Entertainment and reported the news of his absence.
Fans of the "Producer" actor delivered an overwhelming outpouring of support for him in the popularity category, which required audiences to pay for their votes.
Reports of the alleged boycott by stars followed news that FNC Entertainment, which houses CNBLUE, AOA, and FTISLAND may boycott the 2015 Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA). While YG Entertainment was previously expected to sit out MAMA, Big Bang, iKON, CL, and PSY were added to the second-round lineup.
Whether the nominated actors and actresses will attend the 52nd Daejong Film Awards remains to be seen. The ceremony will be held in Seoul on November 20 with 27 categories.
Do you think artists who do not attend end-of-the-year ceremonies should be excluded from receiving their awards? What are your thoughts on these alleged boycotts? Comment below.
----
Adrienne Stanley is a contributing editor at KDramaStars. She is also a contributing music writer at KpopStarz, MTV Iggy and other publications. When she is not listening to "Rhythm Ta," she can be found on Twitter (@retrogirladdy).
