The author of the first “new-style” poem, “From the Ocean to the Youth” (해(海)에게서 소년에게, 1908), he is widely credited with pioneering modern Korean poetry.

[2] Through the work of the Chinese nationalist writer Liang Qichao, Choe learned of the Western theories of Social Darwinism and the idea that history was nothing more than an endless struggle between various people to dominate each other with only the fittest surviving.

[4] In a 1906 essay he wrote: "How long will it take us to accomplish the goal of flying our sacred national flag above the world and having people of the five continents kneeling down before it?

Influenced by Social Darwinist theories, Choe urged in numerous articles that the Koreans would have to modernize in order to be strong to survive.

[7] Choe claimed in his 1926 book Treatise on Dangun (단군논, Dangunnon) that ancient Korea had outshone both Japan and China.

[11] During the conference, Choe delivered a speech to a group of Korean students studying in Japan calling the "Anglo-Saxon" powers Britain and America the most deadly enemies of Asians everywhere, and urged the students to do everything in their power to support the war against the "Anglo-Saxons", saying that there was no higher honor for a Korean than to die fighting for Japan's efforts to create the "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere".

[12] Kyung suggested that the change in Choe was caused by the fact that Japan had occupied Korea in 1904 during the Russian-Japanese War and by the early 1940s, the "permanence" of Japanese rule was assumed by most Koreans as every attempt to win independence had always ended in failure.

[12] In 1949, Syngman Rhee’s government arrested Choe for collaboration with the Japanese during the colonial period, but he was released when the trial was suspended.

Choe remains a deeply controversial figure in Korea today, being respected for his historical work and his efforts to create the modern Korean language while being condemned for his wartime statements supporting Japan.

[12] In addition to a large body of historical works, Choe’s writings range from poetry, song lyrics, travelogues, to literary, social, and cultural criticism.