Miss Korea winner Woo Seo-yun faces plastic surgery allegations; mother's past remark resurfaces

Plastic surgery allegations have surfaced against Woo Seo-yun, 22, the eldest daughter of former basketball player Woo Ji-won, after she was crowned Miss Korea Jin at the 70th Miss Korea pageant — and a past remark by her mother about cosmetic procedures is drawing renewed attention.

Woo claimed the top title Saturday at the pageant, held at COEX Auditorium in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Having advanced to the finals as Miss Seoul-Gyeonggi-Incheon, she drew attention for her height and striking looks before ultimately taking the Jin title.

Accepting the crown, Woo said, "My fellow contestants worked so hard. It was through their painstaking efforts, stitch by stitch, that we were able to put on such a wonderful show."

Woo is majoring in fine arts at Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts. She has been a familiar face since childhood, appearing on SBS's "Star Junior Show Bungeo-ppang" and tvN's "Dungji Talchul 3," and most recently on tvN Story's "My Child's Romance 2" in February.

After her crowning, old photos and footage from her earlier television appearances began circulating online alongside recent images, prompting allegations that she had undergone plastic surgery.

The controversy has in turn resurfaced a past on-air confession by her mother, Lee Gyo-young — Woo Ji-won's ex-wife — about her own cosmetic procedures.

Lee had previously raised the topic of dishonesty during filming of a couples camp segment on SBS's "Star Couple Show Jagiya."

When host Kim Won-hee asked whether she was hiding something significant, Lee admitted she had been concealing the extent of her plastic surgery.

Lee stunned the cast when she said, "Try to find which parts of me have been done. It would be faster to look for the parts that haven't."

Lee and Woo Ji-won met through a mutual acquaintance while both were in college, dated for about two years and married in 2000. They had two daughters together before divorcing by mutual agreement in 2019.

Woo also aspires to become a global art curator while pursuing her fine arts degree at Tufts University.