South Korea's bet Mina Sue Choi was crowned Miss Earth 2022 during the pageant's coronation night held in The Dome of Okada Manila on Tuesday, Nov. 29.
The 24-year-old beauty queen bested 85 other candidates of the pageant. She also made history as the first Korean to win one of the most coveted international crown.
Choi was crowned by outgoing queen Destiny Wagner of Belize.
Her elemental court included:
- Miss Earth Air 2022 Sheridan Mortlock of Australia,
- Miss Earth Water 2022 Nadeen Ayoub of Palestine,
- and Miss Earth Fire 2022 Andrea Aguilera of Colombia.
- The other delegates who made it to the final round [Top 8] were the delegates from Zimbabwe, Netherlands, Puerto Rico, and Belgium.
During the final round of the pageant, the top four candidates were asked the same question: “What is one thing you would like to right in this world, and how would you right it?”
Choi answered: “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 really is putting yourself in someone else’s shoes. And when it comes to climate issues and other issues in this world, one has to be empathetic.”
“You need to really see how the other person perceives this world, you need to understand to understand their pain by being in their shoes. And that, I feel like refers to being empathetic. Kindness and being empathetic can be different. And if I get the chance to really define it differently, that’s how I would define [inaudible],” she said.
The country's representative Jenny Ramp, meanwhile, finished in the Top 20.
She was aiming for a fifth crown for the country, after the wins of Karla Henry in 2008, Jamie Herrell in 2014, Angelia Ong in 2015, and Karen Ibasco 2017.
