When the Japanese imperialists forcibly dissolved the Kanggye military unit in summer of 1907, he, who had been a hunter, organized a volunteer army with other hunters and patriotic-minded people in the area to fight against the invaders and destroy their agencies.

He took the volunteers to northeast China in autumn of 1910 and joined in the independence army to continue the anti-Japanese fight.

Cha met with President Kim Il Sung in 1927 in Fusong when he came to the area with an art propaganda squad during the winter vocation.

In his reminiscences "With the Century" President Kim Il Sung recollected that Cha Cholli formed a volunteer army in Kanggye and fought against the Japanese invaders and that his nickname Cholli means covering 250 miles a day.