Representing South Korea, Mina Sue Choi, 25, was crowned Miss Earth 2022 at the Okada Manila in Parañaque, Metro Manila, Philippines on November 29, 2022. Miss Earth-Water 2020 Roxanne Baeyens, 25, of Baguio City, Philippines attended the coronation night, which was hosted by James Deakin, 50.

A total of 86 candidates competed for the Miss Earth 2022. They were whittled down to 20, then to 12, then to eight and finally to four.

The newly crowned crowned Miss Earth 2022 hails from Incheon, South Korea. She is studying communications at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in Champaign, Illinois, USA.

Both Girl’s Generation member Kim Hyo-yeon, 33, and Super Junior member Kim Ryeo-wook, 35, were born in Incheon. In 2003, the city was designated as the first free economic zone of South Korea.

Choi is the first Miss Earth from South Korea. She is the second Korean to win a grand slam international female beauty pageant following Miss Supranational 2017 Jenny Kim, 28, who was born in Seoul, South Korea.

Choi’s three runners-up were crowned as the elemental queens. They are Miss Earth-Air 2022 Sheridan Mortlock, 22, of Paddington, Australia, Miss Earth-Water 2022 Nadeen Ayoub, 27, of Ramallah, Palestine and Miss Earth-Fire 2022 Andrea Aguilera, 26, of Medellin, Colombia.

The final four candidates were asked the same question. It was, “What is one thing that you want to right in this world and how would you right it?”

“If there’s something I would correct in this world, it would be being empathetic,” Choi answered. “We often mistake kindness as being empathetic but what being empathetic is putting yourself into someone else’s shoes and when it comes to climate issues and other issues in this world, one has to be empathetic.”

“You really need to see how the other persons perceive this world,” the beauty queen from Incheon continued. “You need to understand their pain by being in their shoes and that, I feel like the first one is being empathetic. Kindness and (being) empathetic can be different. If I get the chance to really define it, I’d define it differently. That’s how I define being empathetic. Thank you.”