A boarding house landlady provides generous support to students
A donation of KRW 100 million made in hopes that students will not have difficulty in continuing their studies
Donations also have been made to adolescent heads of household and senior citizens who live alone

Ms. Pil-Geum Choi (60), who is the owner of Yujeong Restaurant and has been running a boarding house near Korea University for thirty years, donated KRW 100 million to be added to the Korea University Development Fund. The donation ceremony was held on March 29, 10:30 a.m., at Korea University’s Main Building in the presence of Professor Jaeho Yeom, President of Korea University, and Ms. Choi.

Ms. Choi has been making donations to Korea University since 2007. As a registered contributor of the KU PRIDE CLUB, Korea University’s micro-fundraising campaign introduced last year, Ms. Choi has been providing monthly contributions to thirty different accounts she owns; her contributions have reached a total of KRW 247 million, including KRW 100 million delivered in 2010. In appreciation of her support, a lecture room on the third floor of Uncho-Useoun Hall was named after her.

“I went to an elementary school in Miryang, Gyeongsangnam-do,” Ms. Choi explained. “I had many brothers and sisters, and because of our family circumstances, not all of us had shoes to wear to school. After moving to Busan, I went to a middle school and then a night high school there. But I couldn’t graduate because I had to make money. I was envious of those passing by wearing school uniforms and couldn’t even face them because I was so ashamed of myself.” Having regrets about not finishing high school, Ms. Choi decided to run a boarding house to be a help to those who study hard.

After moving to Seoul at the age of 23, Ms. Choi saved money by selling noodles at a market and running an eatery near a fishing place. At the age of 30, she leased a house near Korea University and rented out rooms to ten lodgers. It has been thirty years since then, and now the number of people living in her house is around a hundred.

Ms. Choi felt satisfied preparing meals for students and taking care of them. “I wanted to be liberal in spending for the students’ meals and heating up their rooms,” said Ms. Choi. Due to her generous way of running the boarding house, she once was put in a situation where she had to move out from a house she leased for not being able to pay the rent. In order to continue running a boarding house, she took out a loan to build her own and even worked part time as a baby sitter.

As her boarding house was located near the Korea University School of Law, many of the lodgers were law students. Ms. Choi said, “I have rented out rooms to more than a thousand students so far. Two to three hundred of them were those who passed the bar exam, I believe.” Today, Ms. Choi is letting three rooms in her house for free for students with financial difficulties.

Ms. Choi’s endless love towards Korea University all began with the annual sports competition between Korea University and Yonsei University. She recalled that she developed a longing for Korea University after watching the competition on television one day. She has now been preparing breakfast for Korea University sports team members for the past ten years.

In 2010, Ms. Choi donated KRW 100 million of her savings to Korea University.

Ms. Choi has been making donations not only to Korea University but also to teenagers and senior citizens in the community. Having heard from a teacher at Jongam Middle School that there still are many students who cannot afford to pay for their meals, Ms. Choi began supporting around twenty adolescent heads of household with sums of roughly KRW 4 million each year since 2004. Professor Eon Jong Kim of the Department of Classical Chinese, who has been Ms. Choi’s acquaintance for more than twenty years, named the scholarship the “Pil-Geum Scholarship”. Moreover, since 2004, Ms. Choi has been donating rice and rice cakes to the Seongbuk Senior Welfare Center. She invites elderly people who live alone to her restaurant every month to celebrate their birthdays, serving them barbecued beef.

Ms. Choi said, “My boarding house used to be where stories are made. We were like a family, sharing together each other’s difficulties and hardships, and joys and happiness. I feel rewarded when those who used to live in my house come to see me, all graduated and gotten out into the world.”

Mr. Young-Bong Cho, a Korea University graduate and currently a lawyer who lived in Ms. Choi’s boarding house in 1986, recollected that Ms. Choi was very generous and warm-hearted, letting him bring friends home freely. He also recalled that there were always mountains of laundry from the lodgers, and it occurred to him that Ms. Choi slept only around three to four hours a night.

“Thanks to Korea University, I am who I am today,” said Ms. Choi with love for the school. She said she wanted to tell students that they can achieve anything if they have the will. She also revealed that she wants to continue running her boarding house and restaurant as long as she is able to do so.