Choe was born in
Namp'o,
South Pyongan Province, on 1 December 1930. He was one of the first to study at the
Mangyongdae Revolutionary School; he later studied chemistry at the
Kim Il Sung University, and completed his studies in Leipzig (then in East Germany) and Moscow. After his return to North Korea, he worked as a schoolteacher. In 1965 he worked at the
Hamhung Chemical Engineering College as director of research of the Hamhung Branch of the Chemical Research Institute under the National Academy of Sciences, and as dean of the college in 1968. In 1972 he began working as the section chief at the WPK Education Department, becoming its vice-director in 1976. Starting from the late 1970s, when he was appointed faculty dean and later president of the
Kim Chaek University of Technology, Choe took a more prominent role in the
country's politics. In the 1980s he served as chairman of the Education Commission from 1980 and Minister of Higher Education from 1981. In those capacities he expanded cultural exchanges with other countries and programs to let North Korean students study abroad. Choe was first elected as a deputy to the
Supreme People's Assembly in 1982. In the same year, he led an SPA delegation to France. This was the first time he led North Korean delegations on official visits, which later included journeys to the Soviet Union, East Germany, China, and Bulgaria in 1984–1985. In 1984, he was appointed as an alternate member of the
6th Central Committee, then full member and member of the
6th Secretariat in 1986, and
6th Politburo member in 1990. As secretary, Choe was put in charge of education, science and cultural exchanges. Choe was elected chairman of the 10th, 11th and 12th SPAs, a role that increased his involvement in foreign affairs. He also served as chairman of the Korean Committee for Solidarity with the World People from 1993 to 1998. Despite his purported reformist views, he was reputedly close to Kim Jong Il's sister
Kim Kyong-hui and Vice-President
Yang Hyong-sop of the SPA Presidium. On 19 October 2012, he met
Zandaakhuu Enkhbold, the Mongolian parliamentary speaker, and the two countries "agreed on the future possibilities of bilateral trade and cooperation in the fields of information technology and human exchanges."
Choson Sinbo, a pro-Pyongyang newspaper in Japan, said that Mongolia was interested in exporting coal, copper, gold, and uranium through
Rajin Port because it was "costly to rely on Chinese and Russian railway systems." He was then replaced as speaker of the SPA at the new legislature's first session in April 2019. Choe died from a heart attack on 20 January 2024, at the age of 93. His death was announced by
Rodong Sinmun, and
KCNA reported that
Kim Jong Un visited his grave. ==References==