South Korea’s Mina Sue Choi made history for her country after being crowned Miss Earth 2022, the first Korean to win a major international title since compatriot Kim So-yoon won the Miss Asia Pacific Quest in 2002.
Choi, 24, who was born in Sydney, Australia, is a communications student the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Choi bested over 80 contestants and was crowned by outgoing Miss Earth 2021 Destiny Wagner of Belize during the finale held at Cove Okada Manila, Tuesday night.
Named Miss Earth Air 2022 was Sheridan Mortlock of Australia, Miss Earth Fire 2022 Andrea Aguilera of Colombia, and Miss Earth Water 2022 Nadeen Ayoub of Palestine.
“If there’s something I would correct in this world it would be being empathetic. We often mistake kindness as being empathetic but what being empathetic is putting yourself into someone else’s shoes and when it comes to climate issues and other issues in this world one has to be empathetic,” Choi answered in fluent English.
“You really need to see how the other person perceives this world, you need to understand their pain by being in their shoes,” she said when asked.
“What is the one thing that you want to correct in this world and how would you correct it?” during the final Q&A round.
Finishing in the Top 8 were Misses Zimbabwe, Belgium, Puerto Rico and the Netherlands, while in the Top 12 were Brazil, Cuba, Portugal and Nigeria.
Miss Philippines Jenny Ramp made the Top 20 semi-finalists with Ethiopia, Ireland, Namibia, Norway, Slovenia, Vietnam, and the Czech Republic.