He was a member of a literary coterie, Owalsi,[2] along with Kwak Jae-gu, Yun Jaecheol, Na Haecheol and Ko Kwangheon.
Choe’s poetry is based on the consciousness that literature needs to reflect reality and to participate in social reform.
Frost on Windows (1990) contains a poem that is based on Jeon Tae-il,[8] a workers' rights activist, and Seo Hobin,[9] a victim of the May 18 Gwangju uprising.
[10] Since the late 1990s when the military dictatorship was over and democracy was in place, his poetry has turned from the narrative poems into various forms.
Ask Flowers for Direction (2003) illustrates his ecological imagination toward Geomnyongso, a Kalopanax and a young zelkova tree.