Seven finalists of Miss Korea, South Korea's national beauty pageant. [Courtesy of Miss Korea Organization]

SEOUL -- South Korea national beauties will not participate boycott Miss International, a Japanese-based international beauty pageant to be held in October this year, as a nationwide boycott campaign gained force to affect social and other areas beyond selected brands.The operators of Miss Korea, a national beauty pageant, said Monday that they would not send any delegates to the Miss International competition, which is scheduled to begin with a three-week camp on October 25. Along with Miss World, Miss Universe, and Miss Earth, Miss International is one of the Big Four international beauty pageants."It is impossible to participate in an international competition hosted by Japan at a time when all the people are united in a boycott campaign over Japan's economic retaliation," they said. South Korea's national pageant organization selects Miss Korea, the top finalist, and two runners-up who go on to compete in Miss International or Miss Earth.The trade war between Seoul and Tokyo has also affected sports exchanges. South Korean professional basketball and volleyball teams have canceled their off-season training in Japan.A Japanese team was excluded from friendly curling matches involving South Korea, Japan and China to be held on August 16 in the eastern port city of Gangneung. Curling is a sport in which players slide stones on a sheet of ice towards a target area which is segmented into four concentric circles.