'It's Okay to Not Be Okay' nominated for International Emmy Awards

A poster for the TV series ″It's Okay to Not Be Okay″ shows the starring actors Kim Soo-hyun, left, and Seo Yea-ji. [TVN]

The Korean romantic drama TV series “It’s Okay to Not Be Okay” was nominated for the 2021 International Emmy Awards in the TV Movie/Mini-Series category last week, according to the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, which grants the awards.

Starring actors Kim Soo-hyun and Seo Yea-ji, “It’s Okay to Not Be Okay,” produced by Studio Dragon, aired from June to August of 2020 on cable channel tvN. It was also released on Netflix, gaining international popularity.

The drama tells the story of romance and mutual healing between a caretaker in a psychiatric hospital, played by Kim, and a children's book writer who is rumored to have antisocial personality disorder, played by Seo. The New York Times named the drama one of "The Best International Shows of 2020."

The International Emmy Awards are granted to television programs originally produced and aired outside of the United States, while the well-known Primetime Emmy Awards are given to American primetime television programs. No Korean TV drama has won the International Emmy Award.

For the Non-Scripted Entertainment category of the 2021 International Emmy Awards, the Korean survival audition show “I-LAND,” which was jointly produced by CJ ENM and BTS’s agency Big Hit Entertainment (now HYBE), was nominated.

The winners of the 2021 International Emmy Awards will be announced at a ceremony to be held in New York City on Nov. 22.

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