By Xu Aiying and Kim Hayeon 
Video = Gotham Film & Media Institute's official YouTube channel

The smash Netflix series "Squid Game" has won an honor at the Gotham Independent Film Awards of the U.S.

On Wall Street in New York, the series on Nov. 29 was named "Breakthrough Series -- Long Form" (over 40 minutes) in the TV category, thus becoming Korea's first winner at the awards.

"When I first wrote this script in 2009, no one liked it. People said it was unrealistic and strange," series creator and director Hwang Dong-hyuk said in English, "It took 12 years to make this show and present it to people."

"But It took less than 12 days to become the No. 1 show on the planet," he added, "Thank you for watching it, and thank you for loving it. Thank you so much."

Sponsored by the former Independent Filmmaker Project (now the Gotham Film & Media Institute), the largest organization in the U.S. for supporting indie cinema, the Gotham Awards are considered the start of the year-end awards season and a gauge to forecast the winners of major honors such as the Oscars and Emmys.