South Korea is passionate about an 80-year-old model

In South Korea, social networks will follow with fascination on Monday the qualifiers for the Miss Universe Korea competition. Usually, there isn’t much interest in this event, but this year, part of the country is behind the 80-year-old candidate: Choi Soon-hwa.

Usually, there isn’t much excitement for the Miss Universe qualifiers. People definitely follow the grand final, but not really the first phases of the competition. Monday September 30 is different, because one of the candidates is making a lot of noise in the media. This is Choi Soon-hwa. She is a grandmother almost 81 years old: very slender, very dynamic, gray hair, cut quite short, and who is used to cameras and cameras because she started a career as a model when she was 72 years old.

At the time, she had to go back to work, because her retirement from nursing was not enough for her to live adequately. Choi Soon-hwa has had quite a complicated life. She was born in 1943, when the Korean peninsula was still occupied by Japan. She had a difficult divorce and raised her children alone, then almost lost all her savings in a financial scam. It was then that a relative advised her to try her luck as a model for the elderly market, which was becoming huge in the country. That’s how she started. She learned to parade, pose and has already appeared in the Korean editions ofHarper’s Bazaar and of She.

A few months ago, the organizers of Miss Universe, on a global scale, decided to lift some of the restrictions governing the competition. Until now, to compete, you had to be between 18 and 28 years old, never have been married and not have children. Now it’s officially more open. Not all national organizers followed these guidelines, but in South Korea, the Miss Universe committee followed them, explaining that 20% of residents are now over 65, and that soon, one in three residents will be seniors. since the country no longer produces many babies. We must therefore live with the times and accept that the criteria of beauty will be different. They even removed the swimsuit parade to put the older contestants at ease.

Does Choi Soon-hwa have a chance of winning? It’s quite unlikely. The marketing stunt has already been succeeded by the organizers who let her compete, but her chances are quite limited against candidates who are 60 years younger than her.