While growing up in a shanty town west of Incheon in an area known for its communities of displaced refugees and evacuees, Gi attended Siheung Elementary School where he proved a top student, his awards for outstanding performance filling up a ramyeon box.
As a student at Sillim Middle School (1973–76), Ki began writing poetry after one of his sisters was murdered in an act of violence perpetrated by a congregation (church) member.
In 1984, Ki was employed as a reporter at the JoongAng Ilbo, a daily newspaper, while continuing his studies and honing his creative writing skills.
He formally debuted in the world of letters by winning the Donga Ilbo New Year's Literary Contest with his celebrated poem "Fog" (안개), a stinging critique of Korea's industrializing society.
At this time he began publishing poems marked by powerful individuality and an intensely pessimistic world view combining exquisite sensibility with themes of helplessness, longing, disappointment and anger.