National-level-athlete becomes Miss Korea beauty queen

Video By Lee Min-young, Kim Kang-min

Meet Woo Hee-jun, 25, the 2019 Miss Korea first runner-up. She is extremely talented and has great skills onstage, but she also has a serious history with sports.

She is a member of the South Korean national kabaddi team and has continued her medal march since she joined the sport in 2015. Kabaddi is India's traditional contact sport.

In 2016, she helped the Korean women's team win the 4th Kabadi Asian Women's Championship in Busan and won silver at the Iran Championship the following year. She also clinched gold at the Taiwan Championships and finished fifth at the Asian Games in 2018.

Her next goal is to become a soldier and dedicate her life to protecting the nation. She has been recently accepted as a Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) cadet.

Woo said taking part in the Miss Korea pageant was part of her bigger goal and vision ― she wanted to break the common stereotype that athletes are only capable of doing sports. "I don't see any reason why people like me should not be joining beauty pageants. I hope I can inspire athletes like me as well as people working in any other fields to take up the courage to try out new things and face challenges."

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