International elementary school teacher Laura Whee Kwon, 26, will represent South Korea at Miss Supranational 2019. She is the sixth beauty queen to represent her home country in the international beauty pageant.
The teacher and beauty queen hails from Busan, the second most populous city in South Korea. The city is home to Haeundae Beach, Ilgwang Beach, Kiswire Museum, Jeonpo Cafe Street, Busan Citizens Park, Yongdusan Park, Millak Waterfront Park, Taejongdae, Gamcheon Cultural Village, Huinnyeol Culture Village, the Dongbaek island and the Haedong Yonggung temple.
On September 5, 2019, Kwon and 30 other candidates competed in the Miss Queen Korea 2019 coronation ceremony, which was held at the Grand Walkerhill Hotel in Seoul, South Korea. She ranked third and was crowned Miss Supranational Korea 2019.
It was the second edition of Miss Queen Korea. In the same event, fashion model Lee Yeon Joo was crowned Miss Universe Korea 2019 while Cornell University student Lim Ji Yeon was named Miss World Korea 2019.
Runner-up to Kwon as Miss Supranational Korea 2019 was Jeon Hye Su. Hwang Chae Won and Yoo Su Jeong were the respective second and third runners-up.
Kwon was crowned by Miss Supranational Korea 2018 Lee Eun Bi. The latter won Miss Talent and was a Best National Costume finalist at Miss Supranational 2018 in Krynica-Zdrój, Poland on December 7, 2018 but was unplaced.
South Korea did not participate in the inaugural Miss Supranational in 2009 as well as its editions from 2011 to 2013 and in 2015. The country sent its first ever representative in the beauty pageant in 2010.
Soo Jung You finished in the Top 20 at Miss Supranational 2010. Minji Kim and Dasol Lee were both unplaced when they represented South Korea in the beauty pageant in 2014 and in 2016, respectively.
On December 6, 2019, Kwon will compete against more than 70 women from around the world in the coronation night of Miss Supranational 2019 at the Katowice International Congress Centre in Katowice, Poland. The winner will succeed Miss Supranational 2018 Valeria Vasquez, 24,of Puerto Rico.
If Kwon wins, she will become the second Miss Supranational from South Korea. The first one is Jenny Kim, 24, who was crowned in 2017.
CONAN Daily 