In 1946, one year after her graduation from Jinju Girls' High school [ko] (진주 고등 여학교), she married Gim Hangdo (김행도), a clerk of the Office of Monopoly (전매부, now the Korea Tobacco & Ginseng Corporation).

She underwent surgery for breast cancer in the 1960s and had to raise her grandson, Wonbo, after her son-in-law and poet, Kim Ji-ha (김지하) was arrested for allegedly being a communist in the 1970s.

She started her career as a writer with the novel, Calculations (계산, Gyesan) and her early work was heavily influenced by her personal circumstances.

In her later work, The Daughters of Pharmacist Kim (김 약국의 딸들, Kimyakgukui Ddaldeul), she emphasizes characters who overcome their difficulties.

[10] Later, her point of view became more objective in that her fictional setting moved from the Korean War period to everyday life; employing more varied styles and topics.

This epic novel was started as a serial publication in the September 1969 issue of Modern Literature [ko] (현대 문학, Hyundae Munhak).

It employs native folk language and diverse character portrayals, depicting Korea's modern history through the love of a vast "Mother Earth".

[11][13][14] She opened the "Toji Cultural Center" on the site of her original home in Wonju, Gangwon Province, in 1999, to help nurture new writers.