Miky Lee, Vice Chairwoman of CJ Group, was honored with the Global Citizen Award on September 23rd at the Atlantic Council’s awards ceremony in New York City. 

Lee, the first Asian female entrepreneur to receive the honor, emphasized the importance of cultural bridges of compassion, hope, and empathy, and the embrace of building a global platform for future generations.

The evening’s award ceremony at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in New York was attended by over 700 distinguished guests, including global political, economic, and cultural leaders. Among the other Global Citizen Award recipients were Nana Akufo-Addo, President of Ghana; Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Prime Minister of Greece; and Giorgia Meloni, Prime Minister of Italy. 

High-profile figures such as Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Managing Partner of Sherpalo Ventures Ram Shriram, co-founder of DreamWorks SKG Jeffrey Katzenberg, former World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, and Pachinko author Min Jin Lee were also in attendance to celebrate the honorees.

During her acceptance speech, Lee reflected on the evolution of Korean culture on the world stage: “We have witnessed how entertainment can be a bridge. Films like Parasite have started important conversations about inequality, not just in Korea, but everywhere,” she said. “From our K-pop to our K-dramas, we have shown that cultural boundaries can be blurred, and that joy, laughter and love are universal.”

“It is not just about the content we make, it’s about the connections we create. Entertainment gives us a space where people from different backgrounds can come together and share something beautiful. Entertainment may not have the power to end wars, but it does have the power to build bridges. Bridges of compassion, hope, and empathy,” Lee said. 

Lee also recalled CJ’s journey, inspired by her grandfather and the founder of CJ Group and Samsung Group Lee Byung-chul’s belief in “No culture, no country.” She highlighted CJ’s early investment in DreamWorks in the 1990s to learn from the best – Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and David Geffen, which propelled Korea’s media industry onto the world stage. She emphasized the support and strategic vision of her brother Jay Lee, CJ Group Chairman.

Lee credited the younger generation as the driving force behind the global cultural movement. “We are continuing to create the platforms that embrace the youth culture. Provide a platform where they can create, collaborate, express themselves, and fulfill their dreams,” Lee explained. She emphasized that the future of the cultural business lies with the youth, adding, “In this digital social media era, there are strong ecosystems for us to collaborate generationally, globally and seamlessly move together. Let’s make sure we build more roads for people to share their compassion, discipline, and humility.”

“No matter where we are from, no matter what language we speak, we are all part of one global community, and the stories we tell can help us navigate the roads together towards a more compassionate future,” added Lee.

Shari Redstone, Chair of Paramount Global who presented the award, praised Lee’s influence on the global cultural landscape over the past 30 years, highlighting her contributions to connecting creators and artists worldwide. “Miky embodies the qualities that I admire the most: unshakable integrity, and a passion for great stories” Redstone said.

Jim Yong Kim, former president of the World Bank, remarked, “We were students together at Harvard in the mid-1980’s when Miky Lee declared she would bring Korean culture to the world.  We didn’t understand her vision but she went on to build K-pop, K-drama and other K-genres from the ground up. Everyone in Korea who has reached global stardom understands that it was Miky’s brilliant vision that paved the way.”

Min Jin Lee, author of Pachinko, also stated, “Miky Lee is a wondrous colossus, who continues to imagine and create a hopeful world where human dignity can flourish through art, music, and narrative. She is peerless in her prodigious creativity and talent and singular in her ability to nurture artistic communities without borders. I cannot think of anyone who deserves more accolades for her continuing contribution and sacrificial labor toward building a more engaged and connected culture for present and future generations.”

Frederick Kempe, President of the Atlantic Council, also commended Lee for her dedication to fostering artistic storytelling worldwide. “We honor Miky Lee for her decades-long leadership in injecting vision for cultural businesses at CJ Group, her influence in globalizing Korean culture, including producing the Academy Award-winning film Parasite, and her commitment to promote artistic storytelling on the world stage,” Kempe said.

The ceremony reflected the global status of entertainment as a cultural bridge. Following Lee’s speech, pioneering Korean hip-hop artists Tiger JK and Yoonmirae, along with Yoshiki, the legendary rockstar in Japan, delivered performances that conveyed the message of the unifying power of music.

Miky Lee has been a leading force in globalization of Korean cultural industries, raising the value of Korean film, drama, and music on the global stage. Over the past three decades, she has been a champion of cultural exchange between East and West, playing a significant role in elevating the international influence of Korean culture. Her efforts have earned her numerous accolades, including the 2022 International Emmy Directorate Award, the Pillar Award from the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, and the Geumgwan Order of Cultural Merit in Korea in 2023. She also received the Abu Dhabi Festival Award in the Middle East. 

Lee was an executive producer for Past Lives, which was nominated for Best Picture at this year’s Academy Awards. She is currently producing Bugonia, an upcoming film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, a remake of the Korean sci-fi film Save the Green Planet! Furthermore, Lee has been a driving force behind global K-culture initiatives, having launched the K-pop Fan & Artist Festival KCON and the MAMA AWARDS, the world’s No.1 K-pop awards, expanding their reach into the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East.