In university, he published a short story entitled "Toseongnang (토성랑, The Shantytown near the Earthen Ramparts)" in the second volume of the literary coterie magazine River Bank, adapted it into a play, and performed it with the Joseon Art Group.
Also, his Japanese-written short stories "Cheonma (천마, Heavenly Horse)" and "Pulsup gipsugi (풀숲 깊숙이, Far into the Grassland)" came out in 1940, and "Hyangsu (향수, Homesick)" in 1941.
[3] During the Pacific War, he was in detention for 50 days, forced to follow the Japanese military on the frontlines of the Southeast Asia and to write about them, but he refused to the end.
[4] In 1942, he published "Sipjang kkopsae (십장 꼽새, The Chief Worker, Mr. Hunchback)" and the short story collection Gohyang (고향, Hometown).
Later, he joined the Alliance for Joseon Liberation in North China, and wrote the play Hojeop (호접, Tiger Swallowtail) while fighting against Japan.
While publishing serially Yeonan mangmyeonggi (연안망명기, Living in Exile in Yan'an), whose title was later changed to Noma Malli (노마 만리, The Slow Horse Goes Four Thousand Kilometers), Kim moved to North Korea and became a major member of culture and arts organizations.
He left a number of works, including his plays Noeseong (뇌성, Thunder), published in 1946, and Daeoneun taeyangeul hyanghayeo (대오는 태양을 향하여, The Ranks Go Towards the Sun), in 1950.
[9] Beginning in the time when Japan invaded the country and culminating in the March First Movement of 1919, the Korean-language novel Nakjo, published from 1940 to 1941, recounts the story of the family of Yun Seong-hyo, a descendant of a high ranking, corrupt official.
[10] It also successfully captures the beauty of the Korean language by implementing the dialect of Pyongyang, traditional pansori songs, onomatopoeic and mimetic words.
In North Korea, his name was erased in the literary history because he was from the Yeonan (Yan'an in Chinese) group, which stood against Kim Il-sung, until he was reinstated in 1987 and reevaluated as a conscientious nationalist.