"Korean Ghost Stories" wins gold at New York Festivals

KBS TV series "Korean Ghost Stories - The Curse of the Saijin Sword" has won top honors at the 2010 New York Festivals - Television & Film Awards, according to a press release from KBS on Thursday.

The festival which opened at the American Airlines Theatre in Manhattan of New York on Monday, revealed that the series won the gold world medal under the category of TV Movie/Drama Special.

A representative from KBS explained that the prize is significant in that it is the first time for the show, based on Korean horror legends and folktales, to win an international award, indicating that it is receiving interest from overseas.

"Korean Ghost Stories" was first broadcasted in 1977 and aired regularly until 1989. From 1996 to 1999, it established itself as an unrivaled horror and thriller series.

The show was then shown in the summer of 2008 as an eight-part series of which "The Curse of the Saijin Sword" is the third episode starring Choi Su-jong and Sa Kang.

KBS has won several other awards at the New York Festivals -- the silver world medal in 2002 under the history & society category for "Humanity is the Answer: T'egye's Philosophy of Man" and the bronze world medal in 2007 under the best news documentary/special category for "At the Scene of the Pygmy Genocide."

The New York Festivals International Television & Film Awards is one of the most well known and widely respected competitions in the world and recognizes the best in news, documentary, information and entertainment programming.

Reporter : Lim Hye-seon lhsro@
Editor : Lucia Hong luciahong@