kim yong taik was born on september 28, 1948 in imsil jeollabuk-do, south korea. kim graduated from sunchang agricultural high school, and has worked as a teacher at the imsil tokchi elementary school. and at woonam elementary school. kim made his official literary debut in 1982 when "seomjingang river i” (seomjingang i) and seven other poems were included in undying flame (kkeojiji anneun hwaetbullo)a book of poetry with collected works by twenty-one prominent poets, published by creation and criticism.