G-DRAGON has been named Person of the Year at the 2025 DAP Awards, once again asserting his status as a defining force in Korean pop culture.
Announced today (Nov. 27), the 2025 DAP (DongA.com’s Pick) Awards honored the star with its cheekily titled “Something Eternal After All” prize―a nod to his famous lyric “Nothing lasts forever.” Launched in 2016, the uniquely virtual ceremony is curated by DongA.com journalists and is known for its offbeat category names and emphasis on editorial integrity.
“Across the 2000s, 2010s and 2020s, G-DRAGON keeps rewriting records, and the fascination with him cuts across eras and generations,” organizers said, adding that while he once sang “nothing lasts forever,” the vision and sound of his album Ubermensch “hint at something closer to the eternal.”
This year, G-DRAGON stormed global charts with Ubermensch, his first full-length in over a decade, setting a new benchmark for K-pop soloists. He then completed his G-DRAGON 2025 WORLD TOUR [Übermensch], staging 36 shows across 16 cities in Asia, the Americas and Europe―an unusually large-scale run for a solo K-pop act. Pulling off a standalone global tour immediately after years away is a rarity at home, underscoring his outsized brand power and live draw.
The DAP recognition underscores that his artistry and influence aren’t relics of the past―they’re very much in motion. It also reaffirms the weight he carries across the broader pop-cultural landscape.
Recently, G-DRAGON received the Ok-Gwan (Jade) Order of Cultural Merit at the 16th Korea Popular Culture and Arts Awards, officially recognizing his contributions to Korean culture and the spread of Hallyu. He also served as an official APEC ambassador, performing at the 2025 APEC Summit welcome banquet; became the only dual honoree (solo and group) on the Golden Disc Powerhouse 40; and was the sole Asian artist on Complex’s “Best-Dressed of the 21st Century,” further cementing his national-treasure-level influence.
Up next, he’ll bring the global phenomenon home: the G-DRAGON 2025 WORLD TOUR Übermensch] returns to Seoul for encore shows at Gocheok Sky Dome from Dec. 12-14, with anticipation running high from fans worldwide.
(SBS Entertainment News | Kang Kyung-youn)