Cho was born in Kangsŏ-gun, South P'yŏngan Province, now in North Korea on 1 February 1883. He was raised and educated in a traditional Confucian style[2] but later converted to Protestantism and became an elder.[3] From June 1908 to 1913 Cho moved to Japan to study law in Tokyo at Meiji University.[4] It was during his stay in Tokyo that Cho came into contact with Gandhi’s ideas of non-violence and self-sufficiency.[5] Cho later used these ideas of non-violent opposition to resist Japanese rule.