Kim Joo Ri Wins Miss Korea 2009

Majority of the pageant lovers around the world are happy with the crowning of Kim Joo Ri as Miss Korea 2009. Most are saying Korea did not mess it up this time. Korea selected the right girl for the Miss Universe 2010 pageant.

Twenty-one year-old Kim Joo Ri represented the capital Seoul at the Miss Korea 2009 pageant. She won the title last Wednesday. Miss Korea 2008 Na Re happily crowned her.

``I am so happy and I thank everybody who has been cheering for me. I'm happy, but I believe this means I will have to try harder to uphold the Miss Korea spirit. I promise I will do my best,'' Kim said.

A graduate from the Bolshoi Ballet School, Kim enjoys various sports including horseback riding, swimming and golf as well jazz dancing. Fluent in English and Russian, she dreams of becoming a ballerina or a diplomat.

 

 

The two first runner-ups were Cha Ye-lin (22, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies) and Seo Eun-mi (21, Yeongnam University). There were four second runner-ups ― Park Ye-ju (22, Parsons School of Design) also crowned as Miss Korea-Natural F&P; Choi Ji-hee (22, Dongduk Women's University) also crowned as Miss Korea-Hankook Ilbo; You Su-jung (21, Mokwon University) and Lee Seul-gi (21, Dongduk Women's University).

There were 56 candidates from the country and some overseas Korean communities who participated in the pageant.

Former Miss Korea Sohn Tae-young and VJ Lee Ki-sang hosted the 53rd Miss Korea Pageant.

The new Miss Koreas will represent Korea at Miss Universe, Miss International, Miss World, Miss Earth and Miss International pageants.

SKorean activists to stage alternative beauty pageant

A South Korean women's movement which claims credit for driving the Miss Korea beauty pageant off the airwaves is this weekend staging an alternative festival mocking traditional attitudes to women.

The Anti-Miss Korea Festival, which the movement has staged annually since 1999, is this year changing its name to IF (If you want to become a real Feminist), chief policy planner Gang Soo-Jeong said Friday.

Saturday's event at a Seoul university will focus on economic hardships and sexual mistreatment faced by Korean women during the global economic recession.

"Amid the economic slump, discrimination against women in job opportunities, for example, has become worse. Through this festival, we'll shed light on their adversities and give them a pep talk," Gang told AFP.

One skit mocks an apparent sex-for-favours scandal.

Actress Jang Ja-Yeon, 30, committed suicide last month after leaving messages claiming that she was forced to sleep with high-powered media and entertainment figures to promote her career.

The festival also features a skit on a case involving another actress who unsuccessfully challenged a law which criminalises adultery.

Gang said the Miss Korea beauty pageant was taken off the air in 2002 "because our campaign against it worked out pretty well."

Although attitudes are changing, Korea has traditionally been a male-dominated society.

The US State Department's 2007 human rights report noted that "gender discrimination in the workplace remained a problem."

Miss International 2008 Update

 

Kyoto: (L-R) Florence Loi of Macau, Tham Zi Wei of Malaysia, Ochgerel Khulangoo of Mongolia, Sai Ma of Hong Kong, Kim Min-Jung of South Korea, Liu Changwen of China, Yu Ting Yen of Taiwan and Ee Tok Wee of Singapore, representatives for the Miss International Beauty Pageant 2008, pose as they visit a Japanese garden at the Nijojo castle. The beauty pageant will be held in Macau on November 8.

Trivia on Beauty Pageants

I am listing ten interesting trivia about the major beauty pageants which incluude Miss Universe, Miss World and Miss International. Take your time to read this and analyze.

Miss Universe 1953 and Miss World 1953 are both from France.

1. Four countries have won the Miss Universe and Miss World titles in the same year - France in 1953 (Christiane Martel & Denise Perrier), Australia in 1972 (Kerry Anne Wells & Belinda Green), Venezuela in 1981 (Irene Saez & Pilin Leon), and India in 1994 (Sushmita Sen & Aishwarya Rai) and in 2000 (Lara Dutta and Priyanka Chopra)

2. No country has ever had consecutive winners in the Miss Universe Pageant. India and Venezuela came so close to doing so in 1995 and 1997 respectively. However, Sweden and the United Kingdom have had consecutive winners in the Miss World Pageant (1951 & 1952 for Sweden, 1964 & 1965 for the United Kingdom).

3. Italy, famous for its love of fashion & beauty, as well as for its "beautiful" actresses Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida, has never won any major international beauty title.


4. In the early 90's, Miss World attempted to have a Miss North Korea. But nothing came of it.

1979 Miss International Mimilanie Marquez posed for the Super Model of the World contest.

5. Miss International 1979, Mimilanie Marquez of the Philippines, was second runner-up in the Super Model of the World Contest. According to some reports, she was asked to represent the USA instead of the Philippines. The Ford modelling agency insisted that she will have a better chance of winning if she represented the USA but she proudly declined and represented her native Philippines instead, and ended up as a runner-up.

6. In 1973, in a unique twist between United States and the Philippines, United States was first runner-up to Philippines in the Miss Universe Pageant. Philippines was first runner-up to the United States in the Miss World Pageant that very same year.

7. Misses Macau 1989, 1993, 1995 & 1996 are sisters. They are of Pedruco's family, a famous family in Macau. They all represented Macau in Miss World Contest in those years, but none of them made it to the semi-finals.

The Top 3 of 1998 Miss Universe in Hawaii, USA reacts. Joyce Giraud represented Puerto Rico.

8. Miss Universe Puerto Rico 1998, Joyce Giraud was crowned by Ana Rosa Brito, Miss Universe Puerto Rico 1997 twice. First, in Miss World Puerto Rico 1994, and second in Miss Universe Puerto Rico 1998.

9. In Miss Universe 1954, there were 6 Latin delegates in the semi-final competition. The highest amount of Latin delegates who entered the semi-finals.

10. Korea's representative to Miss Universe 1991, Suh Jung Min doesn't enjoy being a former Miss Korea. They found out in 1993 that she bribed the judges to win the title.