YANGON: A Myanmar beauty queen dethroned for alleged misconduct said yesterday she would only return her crown if South Korean pageant organisers apologised.
She also denied accepting free breast implants.
May Myat Noe, 16, was training to become a K-pop star in South Korea after winning the Seoul-based Miss Asia Pacific World beauty pageant in May.
But last week the organisers stripped her of the title for alleged dishonesty, accusing her of absconding with the crown and the $10,000 implants, which they say they funded to enhance her budding singing career.
Yesterday the beauty queen hit back and demanded an apology from the organisers.
“It is natural for me to feel that an apology should be demanded to rectify the damage they have done to the integrity of my country,” she told a packed press conference in Yangon.
“I will return the crown only when they apologise to Myanmar, for the dignity of our country.”
May Myat Noe also denied accepting free breast implants.
“I was put under duress to undergo head-to-toe cosmetic surgery which I refused. I didn’t have breast implants, but I don’t want to go into details, to preserve my dignity,” she said.
Her comments during the press conference appear to have deepened the acrimony between pageant organisers and their former queen. AFP
