BTS member Jimin won big at the 2024 MAMA Awards held in Osaka, Japan, on Friday even though he was absent from the event because he is currently serving his military duty.

Jimin was honored with the Visa Fans' Choice of the Year award on Friday, the first day of the two-day event at the Kyocera Dome Osaka. The Visa Fans' Choice of the Year award is one of the four biggest awards given out by MAMA Awards.


Hosted by entertainment company CJ ENM's cable channel Mnet, the annual MAMA Awards is one of K-pop's biggest annual music awards in Korea.

Although Jimin could not attend the ceremony due to his mandatory military service in Korea, his presence was felt as he also secured a spot in the Fans' Choice Male Top 10, alongside fellow BTS members Jungkook, V and RM. Other winners in the category included prominent boy groups such as NCT Dream, Tomorrow X Together, Zerobaseone, Stray Kids, Seventeen and Enhypen.

Among the evening's top winners was the girl group IVE, who took home three awards: Fans' Choice Female Top 10, Favorite Global Performer Female and the CJ Global Performance Award.

Joining IVE in the Fans' Choice Female Top 10 category were aespa, (G)I-DLE, BabyMonster, IU, Blackpink's Jennie, Lee Young-ji, NewJeans, Twice and UNIS.

The 2024 MAMA Awards began on Friday at Hollywood's iconic Dolby Theatre spotlighting emerging talents, with boy group TWS winning Best New Male Artist and Best Dance Performance Male Group.

In their acceptance speech, the group shared its gratitude, saying, "We've always worked hard with the motto 'Let's make today better than yesterday,' and we'll continue to do so. We're incredibly happy to receive the rookie award at such a prestigious event as the MAMA Awards."

Park Jin-young, the legendary founder of JYP Entertainment, was honored with the Inspiring Achievement award, commemorating his 30-year career. He performed his latest single, "Easy Lover," accompanied by Grammy-winning artist Anderson Paak on drums.

"I'm grateful for this award that embodies my desire to inspire and support younger artists," Park said.

Other notable winners in the U.S. event included ILLIT for Best New Female Artist and Riize for Favorite Global Male Performer.

This year's MAMA Awards, marking its 25th anniversary, made history by hosting part of the event in the United States for the first time.

The second day of the event in Japan, scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday, will announce the winners of the remaining three main categories: Visa Artist of the Year, Visa Song of the Year and Visa Album of the Year.

G-Dragon, aespa, (G)I-DLE and ZeroBaseOne and more are set to perform on the second day.

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]