 As a university student, Kim took part in April Revolution demonstrations that toppled the regime of President Syngman Rhee in April 1960.In March 1963, under the pen name Kim Jiha, he published the poem "Evening Story" (Jeonyeok iyagi) in the journal Mokpo Literature.In 1964, Kim took part in the demonstrations against the normalization treaty establishing diplomatic relations with Japan, for which he was briefly arrested.