Miss Asia Pacific World

Miss Asia Pacific World is a yearly beauty pageant.

There have been a number of controversies with the pageant, and the first three winners have been stripped of their titles. In 2011, its first winner, Jung Eun A was 'dethroned'^[1] after allegations of "automatic top-ranking placements in exchange for sex" by organisers. British model Amy Willerton fled the competition after lack of food and alleged sexual harassment from organisers.^[2] The 2014 Miss Asia Pacific World, May Myat Noe from Burma, was crowned on 31 May 2014 but was dethroned after three months.

History

The 2011 search was the first edition of the Miss Asia Pacific World pageant. It was held in Busan, South Korea, on 15 October 2011.^[2] Jung Eun A of Korea was crowned by the end of the event. However, after only one day she resigned from her title. Florima Treiber of France took over but was 'dethroned'.^[3][4][5] On 12 May 2012, Diana Starkova of Ukraine was officially crowned the new Miss Asia Pacific World 2011 queen, replacing dethroned winner Florima Treiber.^[6]

The second edition of the Miss Asia Pacic World pageant took place in 2012. It was held in Seoul, South Korea, on 16 June. Himangini Singh Yadu of India was crowned by Diana Starkova at the end of the event.^[7][8] The third edition of pageant was held on 30 October, at Hallyuworld, Seoul, South Korea, where Srishti Rana of India was crowned as Miss Asia Pacific World 2013.^[9]

Controversies

At the 2011 pageant Amy Willerton, a contestant representing Wales, along with a number of other contestants, claimed the pageant had been fixed after the girl representing Venezuela was apparently placed runner-up of the talent round before she had competed. Led by Willerton, the contestants demanded answers from organisers and later made claims that some contestants had been offered automatic top-ranking placements in exchange for sex.^[10] The events were filmed by Willerton and other contestants, which were later uploaded to YouTube under the title "Confessions of a Beauty Queen".^[11] Subsequently, she and the representatives from Aletha Shepherd of Guyana, Costa Rica and Pamela Peralta fled their hotel to the airport, claiming the pageant organisers had tried to keep them there against their will and had followed them to the airport to stop them escaping. The Korean National Police Agency and organisers denied all accusations.^[12][13] Willerton claimed that the organisers bribed the police officers, "When the police arrived they called in one of the chairmen of the pageant who actually got his wallet out straight away and we were all pushed back by the organisers so we couldn't speak...Our translator would not translate for us, so we were completely helpless." ^[2]

In September 2014, its registered office in Seoul was identified as a small room in a shared office space.^[14]

May Myat Noe, the winner of the 2014 pageant, was 'dethroned' three months after her win. The organisers claim that May Myat Noe complained about scheduling for the months after her win, and wanted her mother to stay with her during that 3-month period, but was unwilling to pay the added expenses that would be incurred. Organisers also claimed she was rude and not returning phone calls.^{[1][15][16][17][18][19]}

In her press conference, May Myat Noe later criticised the organisers by saying "I'm not even proud of this crown, I don't want a crown from an organisation with such a bad reputation. But I won't give it back to the Koreans unless they apologise. Not just to me but my country for giving it a bad image." She would hand over the crown to the Burmese authorities, but will not allow it to return to the organisers in South Korea until she receives a formal apology.^[20][21] She further stated that she, a 16-year-old, was coerced to escort Korean tycoons, "I was told that, in order to generate funds to produce my music album, I need to accept invitations to escort some business tycoons whenever they require my company".^[22][23]

During a media interview with MBC TV on Sept 14 at Yangon, Myanmar, she said "I am still a minor. If I'm saying I've operated my breast, then the organization is backward. When my mother and I signed the consent operation agreement, I thought it was medical check. I didn't know the meaning of the signature". It turned out that May Myat Noe lied about her age to 18 years old to participate local contest in Yangon in 2013^[24][25][26] The Organization accused May Myat Noe to Gangnam Police Station, Seoul in September 2015 for defamation, false accusation and breach of management contract.^{[27][28][29][30][31][31][32]} and sued Andre Jung Weon-young and particular newspapers for spreading false information and libel suit.^[33]

On April 7, 2016, the prosecuting attorney Ha Ji-Soo at Seoul Central District Prosecutor's Office^[34] ordered That Htet Aung May Myat Noe Suspension Of Prosecution, case number 2016-31557 in the crime of libel by mass communication, and the organization declared to prosecute That Htet Aung and her mother in Myanmar, statute of limitations by 1 September 2022.

Titleholders

Year	Country	Miss Asia Pacific World	National Title	Location
2017	TBA	TBA	TBA	Kiev, Ukraine
2016	Czech Republic	Natalie Stejskalova	Miss Czech Republic	Seoul, South Korea
2015	Canada	May Tong	Miss Canada	Basel, Switzerland
2014	India(Replacement) Myanmar(Dethroned)	Swetha Raj (Replacement) May Myat Noe(Dethroned)	Femina Miss India Miss Myanmar	Seoul, South Korea
2013	India	Srishti Rana	Miss Diva	Seoul, South Korea
2012	India	Himangini Singh Yadu	Miss Diva	Seoul, South Korea
2011	Ukraine(Replacement)  France(Dethroned)	Diana Starkova (Replacement) Florima Treiber (Dethroned)	Miss Ukraine Miss France	Busan, South Korea
2010	Scotland	Katharine Brown	Miss Scotland	Daegu, South Korea

Miss Asia Pacific World 2011, Diana Starkova, Ukraine

See also

References

External links

• Logo for the Pageant: Miss Asia Pacific World Logo