BTS To Receive Korea Society's Highest Honor, The James A. Van Fleet Award

The Korea Society is awarding its highest honor to three outstanding recipients this year, and one of them is BTS.

The Korea Society is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the promotion of “awareness, understanding, and cooperation” between the United States and South Korea. Their highest honor, the James A. Van Fleet Award, is given annually to distinguished Koreans or Americans for their outstanding contributions to the promotion of US-Korea relations.

The 2020 winners of this award are BTS, American veterans who served in the Korean War, and the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Usually, the James A. Van Fleet Award is formally presented to recipients at The Korea Society’s Annual Gala, but alternate arrangements are being made, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. BTS will instead receive the award at a virtual event with the theme “Enduring Alliance, Expanding Horizons” on October 7.

BTS are the youngest recipients to receive the James A. Van Fleet Award in its 25-year history. They are also the youngest recipients of the Order of Cultural Merit, which they were given in 2018.