[1] Soon after his graduation, the April 3 massacre broke out in his ancestral hometown of Jeju, an incident which became a motif of his later work.
[1] In 1957, Karasu no shi and Kanshu Baku Shobō appeared in Bungei Shuto magazine.
The same work would be published in serial form between 1976 and 1981 in Bungakukai literary magazine under the title Tsunami; afterwards, the name was changed to Kazantō.
[2] In 1988, at the invitation of a civic group, Kim travelled to Seoul and Jeju Island, despite having no citizenship.
[2] Major themes in Kim's works include imperialism, notions of home, survival and popular nationalism; he touches upon controversial topics such as identity politics and state genocide.