[Edaily Reporter Kim Min-jung ] Jeong Yeon-woo, the 2025 Miss Korea winner, expressed her discomfort regarding the public interest in whether she has had plastic surgery.

On the 28th, Jeong Yeon-woo took to her social media to directly address questions such as “Did you get plastic surgery?” and “Are you a natural beauty?”

Earlier, on the 22nd, Woo Seo-yoon—the daughter of basketball player Woo Ji-won—was crowned this year’s Miss Korea Grand Prize winner. Subsequently, online speculation about plastic surgery arose as people compared her past TV appearances with her current appearance.

On that day, Jeong Yeon-woo said, “The thing I’ve heard most often while participating in Miss Korea is talk about plastic surgery. I’ve witnessed countless times how such rude and worthless comments easily hurt not only me but also my beloved colleagues.”

She continued, “I’m actually more curious about why people are so interested in whether others have had plastic surgery. Does a person’s value increase if they’re a natural beauty, and decrease if they’re not?” She added, “A person’s value isn’t something anyone can arbitrarily judge, and it certainly isn’t determined by appearance.”

Regarding whether she has had plastic surgery, Jeong Yeon-woo stated, “I haven’t had plastic surgery, but I’ve had several cosmetic procedures,” adding, “If you don’t want to believe me, that’s fine by me.”

She also expressed regret that the Miss Korea pageant is judged solely on appearance.

Jeong Yeon-woo emphasized, “Since the Miss Korea pageant is, by its very nature, a competition that evaluates people, it’s inevitable that the focus is on appearance. However, what many people misunderstand is that we go through various evaluations aligned with the pageant’s theme—including private one-on-one interviews, intellectual presentations on current affairs, self-introductions, and talent performances—before taking the stage.”

She added, “It’s disheartening that, year after year, the question of whether contestants have had plastic surgery becomes the biggest controversy, as it feels like it devalues both the participants who have gone through all this effort and the very essence of the pageant.”

Jeong Yeon-woo went on to point out, “People who scrutinize others’ faces one by one, wondering what has changed; people who are convinced someone has had plastic surgery without even making the effort to look closely; people trapped in their own narrow-minded thinking who behave rudely toward others; and people who don’t even realize how shameful that is. I can only feel sorry for the narrow-mindedness of those who can’t see others in any other light.”