Seo was born on October 14, 2008, in Daegu, South Korea.[1]
Career
Early years
Seo began skating in 2011 at the age of four. He then became inspired to become a competitive figure skater after watching Cha Jun-hwan compete. His mother, Kim Eun-ji, is one of his coaches.[2][3]
2022–23 season: Junior international debut, national bronze medal
Making his international junior debut on the Junior Grand Prix at the 2022 JGP Czech Republic in Ostrava, Seo finished first in the short program after a clean skate, where he scored 74.39 points.[4] He cleanly landed most of his jumps in the free skate, only to fall at the triple Salchow-double Axel sequence and edge calls on two Lutz jumps. He finished fourth overall.[5] In early October, he competed in his second event on the circuit, the 2022 JGP Poland II in Gdańsk. He ranked fourth in the short program and third in the free, winning the bronze medal. He was named the third of three alternates for 2022–23 Junior Grand Prix Final.[6]
In late July, Seo competed at the 2023 South Korean ISU Junior Grand Prix Qualifiers, where he won the gold medal, thus earning two assignments on the Junior Grand Prix circuit.[7] He placed fifth at the 2023 JGP Thailand.[8] At his second, the 2023 JGP Turkey, he won both segments of the competition and took the gold medal. As well, he successfully landed a triple Axel for the first time in international competition, which he cited as a point of pride.[9] With these results, Seo was named as the second alternate for the 2023–24 Junior Grand Prix Final.[10]
He went on to compete on the senior national ranking competition, winning the silver medal.[11] In January, he competed at the 2024 South Korean Championships, where he won his second consecutive bronze medal.[1] With this result, Seo was selected to represent South Korea at the 2024 World Junior Championships.[12]
Competing at the World Junior Championships in Taipei, Seo won the short program with a clean skate. He was narrowly second in the free skate after singling one of his planned triple Axels, finishing 1.54 points behind Japan's Rio Nakata, but remained first overall by 1.44 points and claimed the gold medal. This was the first Junior World medal for a South Korean man. Seo said that he viewed the result as a vindication of his belief in importance of program components in addition to the technical elements.[13]
^Kwon, Su-yeon (September 3, 2022). "첫 그랑프리 무대 오른 서민규...ISU 주니어 GP 최종 4위" [Seo Min-kyu, who debuted on the Grand Prix stage... Finishes 4th place at the ISU Junior GP]. MHN Sports (in Korean).