He was educated at Busan Commercial High School (now Kaesong High School),[1] and earned a bachelor's degree in commerce,[2] and also a master's degree in business administration from Korea University, where he used to be the President of Student Council and led a protest against election fraud of the President Syngman Rhee and his Freedom Party, which occurred the fall of the government.

[3] Prior to the 1967 election, Lee was brought to New Democratic Party (NDP) by its chairman, Yoo Jin-oh.

He then ran 14th in the NDP list and elected as the youngest MP in South Korean history.

[7] Kim then appointed Lee as deputy chairman,[8] which made him as the youngest person to hold the position in South Korea.

Lee was banned from politics by New Military of Chun Doo-hwan in 1980,[2] therefore unable to run in 1981 election.

However, the constituency was already taken over by Park Kwan-young, who was elected under the banner of Democratic Korea Party in 1981 and switched to NKDP in 1984.

He then decided to run for Haeundae and South District constituency, and successfully returned as MP.

[9] Both YS, DJ, and their followers left NKDP and founded United Democratic Party (UDP) on 21 April 1987.

[2] He served as the Deputy Chairman of UDP from 1987 to 1989, and also the parliamentary leader, replacing Seo Seok-jae, in 1989.

[15] Nevertheless, DJ was widely criticised for his controversial remarks, which called rural voters as "pro-DLP", and/or "pro-Roh Tae-woo".

Lee ran for Haeundae & Gijang 1st constituency in 1996 election, but lost to the ruling New Korea Party (NKP)'s Kim Woon-hwan,[2] which ended his MP career for almost 30 years.

He kept trying to return as MP, and in 1997 by-elections, he ran for North District of Pohang, where he was born, but defeated to Park Tae-joon,[2] who soon became a crucial figure of Alliance of DJP.

Under the leadership of Cho, UDP decided to merge with the ruling NKP, in order to overcome its minority position.

After GNP lost to Alliance of DJP in 1998 local elections, Cho resigned his chairmanship.

[2] He was preselected as MP candidate for Yeonje District, but lost to GNP's Kwon Tae-mang.