Prof. Cho received his master's and doctoral degrees in Korean language and literature from the Yonsei University. He has been a professor of Korean language and literature at Korea National Open University since 1987. Over the course of his career, he has held positions as president of the Society of Korean Literary Studies, co-leader of the Northeast Asia Peace Movement, and steering committee chair of Koreans Overseas Forum.

Since 1972, KNOU has gone from being the first national distance-education university in South Korea to becoming a firm foundation in open education for the country. It offers top quality TV, multimedia, web, and audio lectures, with 22 departments and over 750 subjects developed by the country's best teaching staff in the realm of distance education.

KNOU contributes to a lifelong learning society and promotes higher education in general. It is the only university in South Korea that pursues the harmonious development of distance and face-to-face education, with 33 study centres and 14 regional campuses.