According to Amnesty International, Choi, a journalist with the monthly current affairs magazine Mal, was arrested on
Sept. 14, 1992, as part of a crackdown on an alleged North Korean “spy ring.” Choi was sentenced to three years in prison on Feb. 3, 1993, for belonging to an alleged “anti-state” organization—the pro-reunification 1995 Committee—and disseminating material in support of North Korea. Several of Choi’s articles on human rights issues in South Korea were introduced as evidence against him at his trial.