While he was serving in the army, his poem "Byeonsin" (변신 Transformation) won the Dong-a Ilbo New Writer's Contest in 1970, launching his literary career.
He belonged to a coterie of South Korean poets including Lee Kyu-ho and Kang Unkyo who collaborated in self-publishing a literary magazine called The Seventies.
From the mid-1970s, he wrote a series of socially conscious poems to take a stand against the realities of the oppressive society and show his support for underprivileged groups and minorities.
In particular, his 1978 collection Jeomun gange sabeul sitgo (저문 강에 삽을 씻고 Rinsing the Shovel in the Twilight River) consists of works that portray everyday scenes in great detail.
[4] In 1991, 13 years after the publication of Jeomun, Jung's third collection was published, entitled Han geuriumi dareun geuriumege (한 그리움이 다른 그리움에게 One Longing to Another).