Actor Hyun Bin won the top prize at the 2020 APAN (Asia-Pacific Actors’ Network) Star Awards for his role in the hit TV series "Crash Landing On You"(2019-20) on Saturday evening. He expressed gratitude for Son Ye-jin, his partner in the romantic comedy and in real life.

With the success of "Crash Landing On You," aired on cable channel tvN, Hyun Bin, whose real name is Kim Tae-pyung, confirmed again that he is an Asian heartthrob. He played the role of elite North Korean officer Jeong-hyeok. Son played the South Korean chaebol heiress Se-ri, who gets swept by a storm during paragliding, crash-lands in North Korea and falls in love with Jeong-hyeok.

“I’m so happy to start off 2021 with such a great prize... I’m grateful to Ye-jin, whose Se-ri was the perfect partner of Jeong-hyeok. The character Jeong-hyeok was alive more beautifully thanks to the character of Se-ri well made by Ye-jin,” Hyun Bin said during the ceremony held at a hall inside Kyung Hee University in central Seoul.

Hyun Bin and Son, two of the leading stars of Hallyu, or the Korean wave, acknowledged on Jan. 1 that they have been dating for eight months.

The APAN Star Awards is an awards ceremony for actors who contributed to the spread of Hallyu and Korean TV dramas. It has been held since 2012 by the Korea Entertainment Management Association. The 2020 edition had previously been scheduled for November 2020, but was postponed due to a surge in Covid-19 cases.

The Drama of the Year Award went to “Itaewon Class” (2020) aired on JTBC.

BY MOON SO-YOUNG [symoon@joongang.co.kr]