After the April Revolution, a citizens' and students' uprising against the Syngman Rhee dictatorship and election fraud in 1960, he engineered the May 16 coup, led by Major General Park Chung Hee in 1961 with his fellow Korea Military Academy (8th graduating class) classmates.

He served in several high-profile offices, including chairman of the ruling Democratic Republican Party during Park's eighteen year presidency until his assassination in 1979.

Immediately following the successful coup that placed Park in power, Kim Jong-pil established the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA), becoming its first director.

[2] According to the "Kim-Ohira Memo" exchanged between Japanese Foreign Minister Masayoshi Ohira and Kim Jong-pil at that time, South Korea agreed to waive any further compensation for Korean victims of Japanese war crimes in exchange for $300 million US dollars in grants and $500 million in other economic assistance.

As chairman of the NDRP, he ran for president and lost to Roh Tae-woo of the ruling Democratic Justice Party (DJP).

The outline of Kim Jong-pil's positions hardly describes the skills of the politician in navigating the complexities of South Korean politics.

[6] The deal also included his appointment as prime minister in March 1998 during Kim Dae-jung's presidency (1998-2003) for the second time.

In 2004, he announced his retirement from politics after his bid for a tenth term in the National Assembly failed and his party, the United Liberal Democrats, was unable to gain a sizable number of seats in the 2004 parliamentary election.

[7] He is the 12th generation descendant of Kim Ye-jik,[a] a military officer who served at Injo Coup in 1623 during the early Joseon period, and a younger brother of Royal Noble Consort Gongbin.

Both are children of Kim Hui-Cheol,[b] known as Internal Prince Haeryeong,[c] the Musin who was killed during the Imjin War in 1592.

This fact is also revealed in the 2001 sentimental letter written to Bhimlendra Mohan Pratap Mishra, a king of erstwhile Ayodhya state with a history of 200 years old, Kim talked about his March 2001 visit to India.

He mentioned it "remained very meaningful to me" as it "fulfilled his desire to visit Ayodhya, a princess of which became the queen of King Suro of Gaya and Heo Hwang-ok.

"[8] Kim was amongst more than a hundred historians and government representatives, including the North Korean ambassador to India, and an 18-member delegation from South Korea – led by former Gimhae Mayor Song Eun-bok[9] – composed of prominent industrialists who inaugurated a memorial to their royal ancestor, Queen Hwang Huh on the west bank of the River Sarayu.

The monument was built using a three-metre high stone weighing 7,500 kg, specially shipped from South Korea.