[4] She made her literary debut at the relatively late age of 40, with the publication of the short story collection There a Petal Silently Falls.
Choe Yun's writing merges the psychological impact of political/historical events, including the Gwangju Massacre (1980) and the dictatorship of Park Chung Hee (1961–1979), with fictional techniques.
The Gray Snowman is told by a young woman on the edges of the 1980s’ dissident movement, and Father’s Surveillance and A Voiceless Window show the pain of families split by the Korean War and the sundering of the nation.
Choe, however, keeps her lens firmly fixed on the interior lives of her characters, even as they are stuck in the larger web of history.
Choe is notable as one of the first novelists to focus on the impact gender roles have had in modern Korean literature.