{{Short description|North Korean politician (born 1954)}} {{family name hatnote|Choe||lang=Korean}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}} {{Infobox officeholder | constituency_MP = Subok | parliament = North Korean | office2 = Chairman of the State Physical Culture and Sports Guidance Commission | term_start2 = December 2017 | predecessor2 = Choe Ryong-hae | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1954|01|1}} | birth_place = Nampo, South Pyongan Province, North Korea | party = Workers' Party of Korea | education = Red Flag Mangyongdae Revolutionary School | alma_mater = Kim Il Sung University <!--Embedded templates / Footnotes--> | module = {{Infobox Korean name/auto | hangul = %최휘 | hangulref = <ref name=unikorea/><ref name=nkleadershipwatch/> | hanja = 崔輝 |child=yes }} }}
'''Choe Hwi''' ({{Korean|hangul=최휘}}, born 1954) is a North Korean politician. He was a Vice Chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) and the chairman of the State Physical Culture and Sports Guidance Commission. Choe's portfolio as the Vice Chairman of the party covered workers' and social organizations affairs. Choe was also an alternate member of the Politburo of the WPK, member of the Central Committee of the WPK, and a deputy to the Supreme People's Assembly.
Choe was a relatively low-profile politician working in the cultural field and the Kim Il Sung Socialist Youth League until about 2013 or 2014. With his ascension to the post of senior deputy director of the Propaganda and Agitation Department (PAD) in 2013, he became seen as a potential successor to propaganda chief Kim Ki-nam. After becoming the chairman of the State Physical Culture and Sports Guidance Commission in 2017, Choe was seen as rising to the power elite of the country.
==Early life== Choe Hwi was born in 1954.<ref name=nkleadershipwatch/> His father was Choe Chae-ha. He has a sister, Choe Mi-rim. Choe Hwi was educated at the Red Flag Mangyongdae Revolutionary School and Kim Il Sung University Department of Philosophy.<ref name=unikorea>{{Cite web |script-title=ko:최휘(남성) |publisher=Ministry of Unification |work=nkinfo.unikorea.go.kr |access-date=11 March 2019 |url= http://nkinfo.unikorea.go.kr/nkp/theme/viewPeople.do?nkpmno=4155 |language=ko }}</ref>
==Career== Choe received his first significant political post in 1985 as a manager of the Sea of Blood Opera Troupe. In 1987 he became the head of the Pyongyang Art Troupe. In the 1990s he was a vice chairman of {{ill|Pomminyon|ko|조국통일범민족연합}} (Pan National Alliance for Korea's Unification).<ref name=nkleadershipwatch>{{Cite web |title=Choe Hwi (Ch'oe Hwi) |work=North Korea Leadership Watch |date=23 February 2018 |access-date=11 March 2019 |url= http://www.nkleadershipwatch.org/leadership-biographies/choe-hwi-choe-hwi/ }}</ref>
In January 1996, Choe became a secretary on the central committee of the Kim Il Sung Socialist Youth League and was tasked with extracurricular education. He returned to his old post as the head of the Pyongyang Art Troupe in 2000. In 2004, he became a deputy director of a department of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK). He was involved in setting up the Unhasu Orchestra and the Moranbong Band.<ref name=nkleadershipwatch/>
In April 2013 Choe became the senior deputy director of the Propaganda and Agitation Department (PAD). In December 2015, Choe was the leader of the Merited State Choir and the Moranbong Band on a tour to China when the planned concerts were abruptly called off.<ref name=nkleadershipwatch/>
Until around 2013 and 2014, Choe was a relatively routine member of Kim Jong Un's on-the-spot guidance tours.<ref name=nkleadershipwatch/> With his promotion to PAD, however, he was seen as a potential successor to propaganda chief Kim Ki-nam. According to Adam Cathcart of ''Sino-NK'', "Choe Hwi has a lot to say about statues, monuments, and inscriptions" and of propaganda overall.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Eternal Recurrence: North Korean Iconography |last=Cathcart |first=Adam |work=Sino-NK |date=21 May 2013 |access-date=11 March 2019 |url= https://sinonk.com/2013/05/21/songun-iconography/ }}</ref>
Choe was elected to the 13th Supreme People's Assembly in the March 2014 election from Constituency 171 (Subok).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.kcna.co.jp/calendar/2014/03/03-11/2014-0311-007.html|script-title=ko:중앙선거위 최고인민회의 제13기 대의원선거결과에 대하여|language=Korean|publisher=Korean Central News Agency|date=11 March 2014 |archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20140325053412/http://www.kcna.co.jp/calendar/2014/03/03-11/2014-0311-007.html |archivedate=25 March 2014}}</ref> He became a member of the 7th Central Committee of the WPK at the party's 7th Congress in May 2016. During the second plenary meeting of the central committee, he was elevated to the position of Vice Chairman of the WPK and alternate member in its politburo. Choe's portfolio as the Vice Chairman of the party covers workers' and social organizations affairs. In December 2017, he replaced Choe Ryong-hae as the chairman of the National Physical Culture and Sports Guidance Commission.<ref name=nkleadershipwatch/> Before this appointment, Choe was considered relatively unknown and it was seen as a sign of Choe's rise to the power elite of North Korea.<ref>{{Cite web |title=North Korea's Choe Ryong Hae replaced, report says |last=Shim |first=Elizabeth |work=UPI |date=19 December 2017 |access-date=11 March 2019 |url= https://www.upi.com/North-Koreas-Choe-Ryong-Hae-replaced-report-says/7731513722516/ }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Choe Ryong-hae replaced as head of North Korea's sports commission |publisher=Arirang TV |work=YouTube |date=19 December 2019 |access-date=11 March 2019 |url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTIMuelQnjA }}</ref>
Choe belonged to the delegation that traveled to South Korea for the 2018 Winter Olympics to meet President Moon Jae-in.<ref name=nkleadershipwatch/> A special permit by the United Nations Security Council's North Korea sanctions committee had to be secured for Choe's travel, because the Security Council had imposed an international travel ban and an asset freeze on him with the {{ill|United Nations Security Council Resolution 2356|ca|Resolució 2356 del Consell de Seguretat de les Nacions Unides}} of 2017.<ref>{{Cite web |title=UN sanctions committee approves N. Korean delegation visit to South | last=Hotham |first=Oliver |work=NK News |date=8 February 2018 |access-date=11 March 2019 |url= https://www.nknews.org/2018/02/un-sanctions-committee-approves-n-korean-delegation-visit-to-south/ }}</ref> Choe was the only person from the 23-strong North Korean delegation who was under Security Council sanctions.<ref>{{Cite web |title=South Korea asks U.N. to allow sanctioned North Korea official to attend Olympics |last=Nichols |first=Michelle |agency=Reuters |date=7 February 2018 |access-date=11 March 2019 |url= https://www.reuters.com/article/us-olympics-2018-northkorea-un/south-korea-asks-u-n-to-allow-sanctioned-north-korea-official-to-attend-olympics-idUSKBN1FR31J }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=UN allows sanctioned North Korean official Choe Hwi to attend Winter Olympics after South Korea's request |agency=AFP |work=Firstpost |date=9 February 2018 |access-date=11 March 2019 |url= https://www.firstpost.com/world/un-allows-sanctioned-north-korean-official-choe-hwi-to-attend-winter-olympics-after-south-koreas-request-4342887.html }}</ref> Choe is also under US sanctions.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kim Yo-jong’s coming signals willingness to mend ties with SK, US |author=Ock Hyun-ju |work=The Korea Herald |date=7 February 2018 |access-date=11 March 2019 |url= http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20180207000928 }}</ref>
==See also== {{Portal|North Korea}} * Politics of North Korea
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-43041752 What Kim Jong-un's new photo tells us about North Korea] at BBC
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Choe, Hwi}} Category:Living people Category:1954 births Category:People from Nampo Category:People from South Pyongan Province Category:Members of the Supreme People's Assembly Category:Members of the 8th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea Category:Vice Chairmen of the Workers' Party of Korea and its predecessors