[4] From October 2013 to July 2014, he served as Vice Prime Minister for Economic Affairs and Policy Advisor to the Minister of Strategy and Finance, and in July 2014, he served as Secretary for Economy and Finance[3] in the Office of the Chief Economic Officer of the Presidential Secretariat.

[4] In March 2022, after Yoon Suk-yeol was elected president, he participated in the 20th Presidential Transition Committee as a secretary of the Economy 1 Division.

When he served as the secretary of the transition committee, he attracted attention[clarification needed] as a candidate for the first vice prime minister and minister of economy and finance of the Yoon Suk-yeol government and chairman of the Financial Services Commission along with Rep. Choo Kyung-ho and former head of the Office of State Affairs Coordination.

[11] The appointments also led to a mass resignation of senior officials associated with impeached president Yoon Suk Yeol in the presidential office, which said that the move "goes beyond the authorities of an interim leader".

[12] At the same time, Choi vetoed two special counsel bills that sought to investigate Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife Kim Keon-hee over his martial law declaration and charges of corruption.

[15] On 6 February, Choi was questioned by the National Assembly over a memorandum he received from Yoon Suk Yeol ordering the creation of a budget for an emergency legislative body which was to have been created during martial law.