Comedian Kim Min-kyung to represent Korea in international Handgun World Shoot

Comedian Kim Min-kyung [JDB ENTERTAINMENT]

Comedian Kim Min-kyung, 41, will be representing Korea in the International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC)'s annual Handgun World Shoot in November.

IPSC is a global shooting sport association that was founded in 1976 in Missouri in the United States.

This year's competition will be held in Thailand from Nov. 27 to Dec. 3. Some 16,000 people from 100 countries are expected to participate, according to the organization.

During an interview on CBS radio show "Kim Hyun-jung's News Show" on Tuesday, Kim Min-kyung said that she was "honored just to be part of the competition."

"I will try my best, and I hope that many people will cheer me on."

Kim said that she came across the sport of shooting through a web reality show "Athletic Fat from Today" (2020-).

"I learned many different sports on the show including shooting," she said. "People told me I was good at shooting, and the show's producer actually suggested that I try out for an international competition, and I suddenly felt compelled to go ahead with the idea."

In June 2021, Kim passed a shooting test that qualified her to participate in IPSC's tournament. After just one year of training, Kim became one of two female Koreans to compete in this year's event.

"I trained diligently because if I was going to do this, I wanted to do it well," she said, adding that she practiced during the evenings after she finished her work as a comedian. "Nowadays, I am more focused on shooting than being a comedian. When the competition ends, I will go back to my main job."

Kim debuted in 2008 as a comedian and is best known for her appearance on food reality show "Delicious guys" (2015-).

BY LEE JIAN [lee.jian@joongang.co.kr]