2016-07-15 18:36   'Miss Korea' details 60-year history of Korean beauty pageant The 1959 Miss Korea Oh Hyun-ju is seen during a car parade in Seoul in this file photo. / Courtesy of Hankook Ilbo By Park Jin-hai The nation's first beauty pageant Miss Korea was born out of the ashes of the Korean War in 1957. It was organized in order to give hope to a war-stricken people and proclaim to the world that Korea was rising back again, according to "Miss Korea," a new book published by the Korean language daily Hankook Ilbo, the sister paper of The Korea Times. Marking the 60th anniversary of Korea's first beauty pageant this year, the book covers how the beauty competition has evolved with intriguing historical and societal back ground information and unveiled episodes.  The 219-page book includes rare black-and-white photographs of very first Miss Korea "Jin," the competition's winner; winners' car parades in the 1960s and 70s; newspaper advertisements and reports; and much more that show the changing fashion and hairstyle trends. Photographs of historically important incidents at the time are also included. Poster for the first Miss Korea pageant "Miss Korea was a cultural revolution, breaking the old image as a woman locked up at home and daring, to reveal beauty that had been hidden to the public for the first time," said Lee Jun-hee, president-publisher of the Hankook Ilbo. "The 60-year Miss Korea history is also the history of the country's modernization in lifestyle, culture and the economy. This book holds great value as a rare documentation to observe the past." As the nation's representative beauty competition, Miss Korea has served as an outlet that gave many beautiful and talented women instant fame and wealth once they grabbed their crown. From Kim Sung-hee, the 1977 Miss Korea competition winner, who debuted as a singer, many title holders, including 1987 winner Jang Yoon-jeong, 1988 winner Kim Sung-ryung, and 1989 winner Oh Hyun-kyung, have entered the local entertainment business and became stars. In this photo provided by Miss Universe, Sun Lee, Miss Korea 2008, competes in her National Costume at the Lions Theater in the Saigon Outlet Mall in Ho Chi Minh City on Sunday June 22, 2008. Lee will compete in the 57th annual Miss Universe competition in Nha Trang, Vietnam in July. / AP-Yonhap The book says from the 2000s, the Miss Korea winners began to gain outstanding results at global beauty pageants. The 2000 competition winner Kim Sa-rang won the Best National Costume award at the Miss Universe Pageant in 2001, while 2006 titleholder Lee Honey rose to fourth place at the Miss Universe competition in 2007, the highest rank a Miss Korea has achieved so far. The book also has interviews with a number of Miss Korea winners who says their title has been a double-edged sword, including 1988 Miss Korea title holder Kim Sung-ryung, a 49-year-old actress who entered the entertainment business through the beauty pageant, and Keum Na-na, the 2002 title holder who graduated from Harvard University in 2008, majoring in biochemistry, and then earned her doctorate degree in nutrition and epidemiology at Harvard in 2015. The book "Miss Korea" is not for sale and is distributed to public organizations, libraries and companies throughout the country.  http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/culture/2016/07/142_209520.html