[5] He made his literary debut in 1966 when his short story “Algeria, 1961” was chosen as the winner of a contest sponsored by Daegu Daily News.

In other words, retellings of his own experiences, He published his first collection of stories, Soul of Darkness, in 1973 and it garnered the Hyundai Munhak Literary Prize in 1974.

Kim captures the psychological landscape of the scared-witless villagers caught between the Scylla and Charybdis of leftwing and rightwing ideologies and the communist guerrillas hiding at the edges of Koch’ang.

The overall message contained in Kim Won-il's work, which ended in the 1993 nine-volume novel The Evergreen Pine is that historically determined suffering can be overcome, as can human frailty.

Evening Glow The Wind and the River Soul of Darkness Prisons of the Heart House with a Sunken Courtyard The Scorpion Crepuscules (French) Das Haus am tiefen Hof (German) rлyбoким двором: Pоман (Russian) La casona de los patios (Spanish) La cárcel del corazón y otros relatos (Spanish) Spirit of Darkness (Eodum ui chukje, 1973) Today’s Wind (Oneul buneun baram, 1976) Evening Glow (Noeul, 1978) Meditations on a Snipe (1979) Chains of Darkness (Eodumui saseul, 1979) A Festival of Fire (Buleui jejeon, 1983) Wind and River (Baram gwa gang, 1985) Winter Valley (1987) House with a Deep Garden (1989) The Long Road From Here to There (Geugose ireuneun meon gil, 1992) The Evergreen (Neul pureun sonamu, 1993) The Scorpion (Jeongal 2007)