Choe's appointment had been interpreted as reflecting North Korea's willingness to negotiate with the United States as she had allegedly expressed a conciliatory position during the initial 2017 North Korea crisis. She was therefore expected to play a role in upcoming negotiations in the run-up to the 2018 North Korea–United States Singapore Summit. In the run-up, she headed North Korea's negotiating team a number of times when they met with their American counterparts. In May, she participated in track 1.5 talks with former US diplomats, in order to get to know the administration of US president Donald Trump.