In 1998, he was appointed first vice-chairman of the National Defence Commission of North Korea,[2] Director of the Korean People's Army General Political Bureau.

Jo was born in Yonsa County, North Hamgyong province, on 12 July 1928 and he joined the Korean People's Army in December 1950.

[4] By 1998, when he was also appointed to the position of First Vice Chairman of the National Defence Commission, he was the second most powerful person in the country, ranking immediately beneath Kim Jong Il himself.

[7] On 6 November 2010, Jo died of a heart attack at the age of 82,[1] one month after he was elected as member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau.

He lay in state in the Central Workers' Hall (home of the General Federation of Trade Unions of Korea) in Pyongyang and was buried in the Patriotic Martyrs' Cemetery.