When the Japanese rule ended, in November 1945 he became chairman of the Korean Communist Youth Alliance.

Member of the 6th Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea in May 1991, he was elected director of the Civil Defense Department of the WPK, and was promoted to general in November of the same year.

In 2003, he was appointed an honorary censor of the High Command, and in 2005 he was dismissed as the director of the Civil Defense Department of the Central Committee.

In September of the same year, he participated in the 60th Anniversary of the Victory Event held in China as the head of the "Anti-Japan Revolutionary Fighters(항일혁명투사)" and met with President Hu Jintao.

Kim Ik-hyon died in January 2009 after a long illness, aged 87[4] and was buried in a state funeral.