Meet the 80-year-old model who narrowly missed becoming oldest Miss Universe Korea

South Korean model Choi Soon-hwa on Monday narrowly missed becoming the oldest person to win Miss Universe Korea, competing with a group of 32 women in Seoul at the age of 80.

The competition allows the winner to represent South Korea in November’s Miss Universe competition. Choi was the oldest finalist the pageant has seen.

While Choi lost to 22-year-old fashion school student Han Ariel, she ended up taking home the “best dresser” award.

“Even at this age, I had the courage to grab on to an opportunity and take on a challenge," Choi told the Associated Press before the pageant.

“I want people to look at me and realize that you can live healthier and find joy in life when you find things you want to do and challenge yourself to achieve that dream,” she said.

Born on 11 October 1943 in Masan, nearly a decade before the Miss Universe pageant was first held in 1952, Choi worked several odd jobs. She has worked as a nurse, a pastor, and even at a textile factory.

She retired at 68, but was forced to go back to work as a caregiver after she lent someone money who conned her out of it. “I was very desperate, I was fully responsible for my children’s destitution,” she said. “The only thing I could do was make money and pay off my debts.”

In 2014, when a patient suggested she try out as a model since she looked like she’d do well, Choi decided to join a modelling school. “Her remark hit me like a ray,” said Choi.

Four years later, Choi, then 75, made her debut as a runway model at Seoul Fashion Week, and has since appeared in editorials in magazines like Harper’s Bazaar and Elle, as well as commercial campaigns for popular brands.

Choi said her age acted more as an advantage rather than a handicap. Born while World War II was still on, and having lived through South Korea’s struggling economy and the Asian Financial Crisis, she believes her resilience was honed through the life she led.

“I was born and raised in a very tough time, and I still have that resilience to fight, to survive my own battles. But the young generation has no idea,” she told The Washington Times. “When I say something sound, like, ‘Be accountable for yourself’, the reaction is, ‘Oh, you are becoming an old dodderer – that sounds hokey.’”

Choi’s personal life too went through many ups and downs. Her husband abandoned her and her two children, leaving her to fend for herself.

“During my years as a single parent of two kids I would wear the same clothes for as long as 20 years,” she said.

“There is something very unique about Choi – she has a quality that is different from anyone else (in her generation), and I thought it goes well with the kind of originality that I strive to achieve when making clothes,” designer Kim Hee-jin said in 2019, after she hired Choi for her 2018 Seoul Fashion Week show.

The Miss Universe Organization, which earlier only allowed applicants between the ages of 18-28, updated their participation criteria to allow all women, irrespective of marital status, as long as they were above 18.

“After seeing that the Miss Universe competition has no age limit, I said I am participating in this. Then my son said, ‘Mother, are you going that far? Okay mother, go for it.’ So, I sent them photos yesterday, and then they said, ‘Our mother is amazing, our grandmother is great.’ So, I feel very good,” she said.

“I want to stun the world, like, ‘How is an 80-year-old lady so healthy? How did she maintain that body? What’s your diet?’” she told CNN. “When you get old, you gain weight… So, I want to show that we can live healthily even when we get old.”

“Becoming a model was like opening a door to a new path for me, so I planned in my mind. I said, ‘I will be successful and work hard’… When my dream came true, I thanked God and kept working hard. It’s so fun and I love it.”

Even though Choi lost the Miss Universe title, she has her eyes set firmly on the prize and her dreams are bigger than a pageant.

“I saw a lot of nice models other than Koreans, and I want to explore and have adventures on global stages,” she said. “That was the idea – a Miss Universe can do this – but I have no worries about losing. I’ll find another opportunity to go global.”