Parasite team meets with South Korea’s president after making history at the Oscars

The cast and crew behind Parasite just received a warm welcome from South Korea’s president after making history at the Oscars.

Bong Joon-ho’s acclaimed thriller became the first foreign-language film to ever win Best Picture at the 92nd Academy Awards earlier this month, and on Thursday, Bong and some of the film’s stars met with South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

Moon praised the filmmakers and said he was «very proud» that the movie «made new history for the Oscars,» The Associated Press reports. He also said that «Korean culture has moved from the peripheries to the center of the world and became recognized in all fields of culture» and that this is «due to the passion and hard work of everyone including Director Bong,» Soompi reports.

Bong said during the event he was «very pleased to finish our journey» with this «honorable» meeting, per the AP. After a long Oscars campaign, Bong returned to South Korea this week and in a news conference on Wednesday reflected on the «passion» that brought the film to its historic victory, even though «our Oscars campaign was smaller» than others, Variety reports.

Moon had previously hailed the Parasite cast and crew for their win, starting off a meeting with senior aides on Feb. 10 with a round of applause for the film.

Parasite didn’t only make history as the first Best Picture winner not in the English language. It was also the first movie from South Korea to win the Best International Feature Film Oscar, as well as the first to ever be nominated.

‘PARASITE’ TEAM MEET SOUTH KOREA PRESIDENT: Director Bong Joon-ho and stars of his @ParasiteMovie meet with South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in (문재인) (@moonriver365) (@TheBlueHouseENG) and first lady Kim Jung-Sook, in honor of their historic Oscar success. pic.twitter.com/Tdp8lgg1uw

— AP Entertainment (@APEntertainment) February 20, 2020