[3] He served as the principal of Baehwa Girls' Middle School, and was a friend and in-law of Yeo Woon-hyung.
As a member of the Korean Language Society he was arrested in 1942 by the Japanese colonial authorities, and imprisoned.
He was also involved in the Hanyeongseowon patriotic song incident,[5] the March 1 Independence Movement, the Heungeop Club [ko] incident, and for these was arrested four times and imprisoned three times, spending more than 18 months in prison.
Until his death in 1978, he was a socialist politician and unification activist who served as a representative of the Supreme People's Assembly, the chairman of the Joseon Character Reform Committee, and the president of the History of the Unification of the Fatherland.
He served as the director of general education in North Korea, and led the translation project of Goryeosa and Rijo Annals early on.