MANILA, Philippines — A Communications student at the University of Illinois, who represented South Korea, was proclaimed the winner of this year’s Miss Earth pageant held Tuesday night at the Cove in Okada Manila.
She is the first Korean beauty queen to win the Miss Earth title.
According to her profile, Mina Sue Choi was born in Sydney, Australia and lived there until she was seven years old. She attended Korean schools in South Korea when she was seven until 11. She has also lived in Canada, the United States and China.
The “most unusual thing” she has ever done in her life was going on a trip to Bali.
“I went on the trip without letting my parents know. My layover time was short, and I missed my flight, so the wait was about 10 hours at the airport. It was my first time traveling alone to an unfamiliar place, but I recall feeling very adventurous, lost, yet curious. Despite the long flight hours and delays, it was worth the risk. Not to mention, Bali was absolutely beautiful,” she said.
Her advocacy is “promoting reduction of carbon footprints in cities with sustainable mobility and encouraging lifestyles that will help reduce carbon emission in our daily lives.”
Choi was asked during the question and answer portion about what she would like to correct in this world and how she would correct it.
“We often mistake kindness as being empathetic, but what being empathetic (means) is really putting yourself in someone else’s shoes. And when it comes to climate issues and other issues in this world, one has to be empathic,” she said.
“You need to really see how the other person perceives this world. You need to understand their pain by being in their shoes. And that, I feel like differs from being empathetic. Kindness and [empathy] can be different. And if I get the chance to really define it differently, that’s how I would define it,” she added.
Rounding up the winners of the just-concluded beauty pageant were Miss Fire 2022 Andrea Aguilera of Colombia, Miss Water 2022 Nadeen Ayoub of Palestine and Miss Air 2022 Sheridan Mortlock of Australia.
The Philippines’ Jenny Ramp finished in the Top 20.
Destiny Wagner of Belize was the previous winner.