Actor Seo Kang-jun won the grand prize at the 2025 MBC Drama Awards. Meeting viewers with his first comeback after military discharge, he earned unanimous support for the grand prize by delivering a well-rounded combination of topicality, ratings and acting skills.
Seo Kang-jun raised the grand prize trophy at the 2025 MBC Drama Awards held on the 30th. In Undercover High School, the comeback work he chose after finishing his military service, he showcased steady acting and a deepened emotional arc, drawing attention from both viewers and the industry as a result.
Seo Kang-jun, who enlisted as an active-duty soldier in the army in November 2021 and was discharged in May 2023 after completing his term, returned to the small screen after about three years with Undercover High School, following Grid, which was released in 2022 while he was in military service. Seo Kang-jun gave a passionate performance as Jung Hae-seong, an ace field agent of the National Intelligence Service (NIS) who was deployed on the Undercover High School operation.
Undercover High School, which had high expectations even before it aired, immediately recorded strong topicality and ratings after its premiere. According to results released in February on Good Data Corporation's official platform FUNdex, Undercover High School ranked first in TV-OTT drama topicality, and Seo Kang-jun topped the list of cast members in topicality.
Undercover High School's competitiveness, which pushed SBS's Buried Hearts and tvN's My Dearest Nemesis to second and sixth place respectively among newly aired shows at the same time, rested with its lead Seo Kang-jun.
Interest in the work naturally led to rising ratings, and as episodes accumulated it maintained steady figures, proving its box-office success. Its personal best rating was 8.3% (Nielsen Korea, nationwide households).
Praise for his acting also followed. Seo Kang-jun received evaluations that he convincingly portrayed the character's interior with restrained emotional expression and deepened eye acting. In particular, despite being his first work after discharge, he demonstrated such a stable acting rhythm that the hiatus seemed irrelevant, reaffirming the label of a "reliable actor."
Above all, this grand prize was more meaningful because it was awarded to an actor who drove both artistic merit and topicality beyond a simple popularity award. Seo Kang-jun firmly imprinted his presence as the central force leading the entire work beyond individual stardom.
On stage, Seo Kang-jun candidly expressed, "If I describe my feelings now, I feel more embarrassed than happy. I am very surprised and embarrassed." About his comeback work Undercover High School, he said, "This is the first work I filmed after returning from the military. I missed this set so, so much," and confessed, "Having acted for more than 10 years, I always thought I should be grateful and cherish it, but I think I unconsciously forgot that feeling."
Seo Kang-jun said, "I spent countless hours in the military and missed this set so much, and I am even more embarrassed and surprised to receive such a heavy award through Undercover."
Seo Kang-jun showed humility, saying, "While filming, I often thought, 'I could be replaced at any time,'" and "When I look around, there are so many people who work harder and are more excellent than I am. I wonder why I am standing here and holding this award. I can only think it was because I was lucky."
Finally, he vowed, "I don't know how long I will do this job, but until the day I finish, I don't want to be replaceable," and "So I will study, think and act even more desperately." He concluded his acceptance speech by saying, "I sincerely thank you."
Seo Kang-jun, who grabbed the grand prize with his comeback work after discharge. This award, which captured the three rabbits of topicality, ratings and acting, served as a signal flare announcing not just a return but the start of another heyday.
[Photo] Provided by MBC
[OSEN]