[3][4] Kim was born in Boeun, North Chungcheong Province and studied Korean Literature at Seoul National University.

[8] Kim debuted in the journal Poetry and Economics (Shi wa gyeongje) in 1982, during the period of the military government’s oppressive rule.

His poems adopt a disciplined form, but the subjects described in them are people from the general walk of life, often deficient in character or even stupid-sounding.

The poet thus confesses, “I feel the warmth of humanity more in naivete and clumsiness, rather than in perfection and smoothness.”[9] Kim defines writing poetry as "questioning things tirelessly."

Kim’s poetics involves engagement with the poem, both by the poet who writes and the reader who reads.