 In 1972, he started to work as section chief at the WPK Education Department, being its vice-director from 1976.Starting from late 1970s, when he was appointed faculty dean and later president of the Kim Chaek University of Technology, Choe Thae-bok took a more prominent role in the country's politics.In the 1980s he served as Chairman of the Education Commission (from 1980) and Minister of Higher Education (from 1981); in those capacities, he expanded cultural exchanges with other countries and programs to let North Korean students to study abroad.