South Korean television series "Squid Game" has won a special honor from the American Film Institute (AFI).

The AFI announced the top 10 movies and TV shows of the year on Wednesday (US time), and "Squid Game" was one of the three special award winners, along with "Belfast" and "Summer of Soul…(Or, When the Revolution Could Not be Televised)," although they fell outside the institute's criteria for American film and TV.

This year's top awards for films went to "Coda," "Don't Look Up," "Dune," "King Richard," "Licorice Pizza," "Nightmare Alley," "The Power of the Dog," "tick, tick … Boom!," "The Tragedy of Macbeth" and "West Side Story."

On the television side, the AFI Awards went to "Hacks," "Maid," "Mare of Easttown," "Reservation Dogs," "Schmigadoon!," "Succession," "Ted Lasso," "The Underground Railroad," "Wandavision" and "The White Lotus."

On Tuesday, "Squid Game" clinched "The bingeworthy show of 2021" award at this year's People's Choice Awards in a heated competition against six shows, including Disney+'s "Loki," Apple TV+'s "Ted Lasso," Netflix's "Sex/Life" and HBO's crime drama "Mare of Easttown."

Last month, the South Korean hit series won the best long-form TV series title at the Gotham Awards, becoming the country's first winner at the US awards ceremony for lower-budget indie movies and TV series. (Yonhap)