Miky Lee Honored as 'Godmother of K-Culture' in Los Angeles

By Marcus Bennett

Lee Soo-man, the founder of SM Entertainment, handed CJ Group vice chair Miky Lee the Asian Hall of Fame's Centennial Medal of Lifetime Achievement in Los Angeles — and crowned her with a new title. "If I am the godfather of K-pop, then Miky Lee is the godmother of K-culture," he said.

Lee Soo-man, now a key producer at A2O Entertainment, reminded the audience that Miky Lee had introduced him at the same event a year earlier and called him the godfather of K-pop. "Well, tonight, I'd like to return the favor," he said.

The Asian Hall of Fame awards the medal to inductees it sees as people of strong character who have raised the bar in their industries, made a cultural mark and worked across racial lines. The institution, which recognizes Asian and Indigenous legacy, honored Miky Lee for more than 30 years of connecting Korea with audiences abroad through film, music and television.

A friendship of more than 50 years

The two Lees have been friends for over half a century. Lee Soo-man said he first met her when he was a college student already known as a singer and radio and TV host, and she was still a middle schooler. "But even then, she was already the boss," he said.

He recalled a phone call from her a few years ago while he was in Dubai. She told him to wait, flew in from the U.S. and arrived the next day. He did not say what the visit was about. "I've learned over the years that it's very difficult to say no to Miky Lee," he said.

Looking back to 1995, when CJ was still known as a food company, Lee Soo-man said: "Korea was hardly a major player in the global entertainment industry. But Miky saw something others didn't." He credited her with steering CJ's DreamWorks investment that year, transforming Korea's film industry through CGV and helping turn the MAMA Awards and KCON into worldwide platforms.

'Culture is like oxygen'

In her acceptance speech, Miky Lee said: "Culture is like oxygen. We may take it for granted, but we cannot live without it."

She was born in Knoxville, Tenn., and raised in Seoul. She traced that belief to her grandfather, who founded both CJ and Samsung and liked to say, "No culture, no country!" She and her brother Jay took the words to heart at what was then a food business. "We've been entertaining people's mouths. Why not their eyes and ears, too?" she recalled them saying.

She framed the DreamWorks deal as a chance to learn from the best, not a grab at Hollywood glamour. CGV followed in 1998 as Korea's first multiplex, then came a move into cable TV and the launch of production house Studio Dragon.

She said Mnet was created to give a new generation somewhere to discover homegrown music. Nearly 85% of the songs aired on Korean television were once American pop, she said, but by the 2000s the balance had reversed. The MAMA Awards and KCON later carried that community to cities including Bangkok, Hong Kong, Los Angeles and Tokyo. "'Music Makes One.' That was the dream. And the fans brought it to life," she said.

Among the Korean filmmakers she has worked with, she named Park Chan-wook, Bong Joon Ho, Lee Chang-dong and "Squid Game" creator Hwang Dong-hyuk. She also pointed to Lee Isaac Chung, "KPop Demon Hunters" director Maggie Kang and Celine Song as filmmakers proving that stories drawn from Asian cultures can travel far beyond them.

"Our greatest legacy is not simply what we have accomplished, but the opportunities we create for those who come after us," she said.

What does the record show?

Miky Lee was an executive producer on Bong's "Parasite," which in 2020 became the first film not in English to win the best picture Oscar, taking four Academy Awards in total. KCON launched in the U.S. in 2012 and has grown from a K-pop festival into a convention spanning Korean food, beauty and lifestyle. The MAMA Awards began in 1999 as the Mnet Video Music Awards. More recently, CJ ENM launched the First Light StoryHouse label to back projects from Asian creators, with direct investment and co-production starting from early development.

The ceremony, the Hall of Fame's 22nd induction, also honored Blackpink's Rosé and Japanese baseball great Nomo Hideo. Guests included Korean hip-hop artists Tiger JK and Yoon Mi-rae, X Japan leader Yoshiki, Academy Museum of Motion Pictures director and president Amy Homma, writer-director-producer Lisa Joy, Locarno Film Festival president and Luma Foundation founder Maja Hoffmann, and early Google board member Ram Shriram. With the First Light StoryHouse label now funding Asian creators from early development, the godmother of K-culture is already building the next generation she says matters most.