His family moved to Keijō (Seoul) in 1936. and he graduated from Gyeonggi Commercial High School and entered Yonsei University in 1950.

In May 1951, he took part in the Battle of Hanseok Mountain at Inje County and became a POW of the Chinese Army before being deported to North Korea.

After being released from a concentration camp for good behavior in August of 1964 and assigned to the Hwa-Poong coal mines in North Pyongyang province, he married.

The couple divorced after having three children in five years, as the constant surveillance and North Korean demand that they spy on each other made the marriage very difficult.

Cho Chang-ho has been depicted on-screen by Cha In-pyo in the South Korean movie Albatross