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Paralyzed veteran donates to DC Korean scholarship foundation

April 16, 2015

Tony Choe, second from left, hands a donation to Korean American Scholarship Foundation leaders.

By The Korea Times Washington D.C. staff

In 1993, Tony Choe faced death after being shot in the back during a robbery involving his family’s Washington, D.C., liquor store and three robbers.

Doctors said he had a 10 percent chance of making out of the surgery room alive.

Now 47 years old and confined to a wheelchair, Choe — who said he cannot forget the overwhelming support of the local Korean American community following the incident — handed a $10,000 donation to the Korean American Scholarship Foundation last September.

The foundation announced Choe’s donation Tuesday.

“I saved up for five years to give scholarship money to students who are studying hard, and if I find financial stability, I want to donate more in the future,” Choe said.

He’d immigrated to America with his family in 1984 at age 16 and joined the Marine Corps Reserve in 1989.

He was 25 when he got shot.

“I think of 1993 as the year I died once, because my second life started then,” Choe said.

His mother, older sister and younger brother continued to operate the liquor store until 2000 while a paralyzed Choe pursued a career in the computer sciences.

Choe said his donation to the foundation came from a desire to take some burden off students who worry about college tuition.

“I want to give courage to many people while I’m alive,” he said.