K-pop sensation BTS notched the title of Worldwide Icon of the Year on Tuesday, the first day of the two-day 2023 MAMA Awards.
The MAMA Awards, the world’s biggest K-pop festival organized by CJ ENM, is taking place at the Tokyo Dome, Japan’s top concert venue, this year.
Worldwide Icon of the Year is one of the four top honors to be presented this year.
Winners of the three other main awards-- artist of the year, song of the year and album of the year -- are to be announced Wednesday night.
This marks the sixth consecutive year for BTS to take achieve the Worldwide Icon of the Year honor, dating to 2018.
BTS, which has been taking time off from group activities to focus on their individual careers and to fulfill mandatory military service, did not attend the event.
“Thank you for all this never-changing love. We lament that we cannot celebrate the day together but we are confident that we will come back better than ever. We hope you stay healthy and happy until then,” Jungkook shared in a prerecorded video.
BTS was also recognized with the Worldwide Fans’ Choice, along with other K-pop groups TXT, Zerobaseone, Enhypen, Ateez, NCT Dream, Stray Kids, Seventeen and Twice and solo singer Lim Young-woong.
Legendary K-pop duo TVXQ, which marks its 20th anniversary this year, took home the Inspiring Achievement honor.
The duo performed their latest single, “Down,” and hit single “Rising Sun” with rookie boy band Riize.
“We haven’t taken part in this event for a while. We are really grateful to receive such an honorable award and perform with amazing artists. This was all possible thanks to our fans,” Max Changmin said.
The favorite new artist award given to rookies who sold over 1 million copies of an album in their debut year went to SM boy band Riize and Zerobaseone, a group that consists of nine artists chosen through Mnet’s “Boys Planet.”
“Thank you Briize for helping us make such an accomplishment. We will continue to do our best,” Sohee said, referring to the group's fandom.
“Thank you Zerose for giving us this opportunity to perform on a such big stage. There will be a surprise announcement coming soon, so please look forward to that,” Sung Hanbin said to the Zerobaseone fan club in Japanese after receiving the award on stage.
Zerobaseone’s Zhang Hao also performed on the violin to "Here I Am," the theme song of “Boys Planet.”
Han Yujin of Zerobaseone then took to the stage for a dance performance of Japanese song “Endless Rain.”
On Wednesday night, major K-pop groups including Seventeen, Treasure and Le Sserafim are to take to the stage.
