The results are in and Kim Ju-Ri is officially Miss Korea 2009 and will be representin’ South Korea at the Miss Universe pageant.   The contest occurred on July 8th at Seoul’s Sejong Center for the Performing Arts, and was hosted by former Miss Korea finalist Sohn Tae-young.  The new Miss Korea, Kim Ju-Ri, takes over from last year’s winner, Na Ri – who was beaten down in the media and criticized for not being pretty enough.  Ouch!

Miss Kim entered the competition as Miss Seoul.  She is a ballerina who is a graduate of the Bolshoi Ballet School in Russia.   And after she was awarded the crown, she said in an interview “Although I’ve become Miss Korea, my dream is to be a ballerina.  As a Korean ballerina, I would like to show the world the pride and beauty of Korea’s women.” Awww, how nice.  She actually beat out not only contestants from within South Korea, but also contestants from overseas that hailed from New York, Los Angeles, Texas and D.C.  What about the Brazilians?  Someone from there would’ve challenged for the crown.

This is the list of winners and there were a lot of awards.

Miss Korea (jin): Kim Ju-ri
Miss Korea (sun): Cha Ye-rin, Seo Eun-mi
Miss Korea (mi): Park Ye-joo, Lee Seul-gi, Yoo Su-jung, Choi Ji-hee

Talent Award: Yoo Su-jung
Friendship Award: Yang Kook-hwa
Manners Award: Jo Su-jin
Photogenic Award: Wang Ji-hye
Korean Abroad Award: Kwon Ri-sae
Popularity Award: Park Ye-joo

Who would you vote for as Miss Korea?  Who will represent South Korea at the Miss Universe pagaent this year?  The Miss Korea website link has been flying around the Internet and if you want to take a look at the contestants, go to:

http://misskorea.hankooki.com/poll/poll_list.php

Will there be another Honey Lee or someone even better that can take the crown?  If you recall, Honey Lee placed in the top 5 in 2007 of the Miss Universe pagaent in Mexico.  She had entered the competition as one of the favorites, but in the end she came up a little short.  What would be really cool, though we may be in the minority on this is to allow mixed Koreans to participate.  Yes America is different because it is inherently a melting pot, but there are many biracial and mixed Koreans who take pride in their Korean heritage.  And if they do, why not allow it because we are becoming an increasingly mixed world.  Enough of that quick editorial; onto the contestants.  Here are a few of the contestants.