Kim Yong-ik

Kim was born in Cheongmu, now known as Tongyeong, a seaport, and was raised in Korea under Japanese rule. He studied English literature at Aoyama Gakuin University from 1920–1943 graduating with a PhD in English literature. At the age of 28 he traveled to the United States to study English literature at Florida Southern College. He then studied at the University of Kentucky at Lexington, where he earned an MA in English literature. He later studied creative writing at the Iowa Writers' Workshop. From 1957 to 1964, Kim taught in South Korean universities including Ewha Womans University University and Korea University. Kim returned to the United States in 1965 to be closer to the publishers in the United States. He taught at the University of California at Berkeley as a visiting professor from 1972–1973 and then at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from 1973–1990. Kim traveled to Korea for a semester in early 1995. While there, he fell ill, and subsequently died on April 11, 1995. Im Bok Kim also edited many of his works (both in English and in Korean), in spite of not being credited, although she was referenced later in an interview with the author.

He had written nonfiction, novels, essays, and collections of short stories. His stories have been published in Atlantic Monthly, The Hudson Review, Harper's Bazaar, and The New Yorker. Two of his stories were included in Martha Foley's Best American Short Stories His short story "Crown Dick" was made into a PBS film, after winning the PEN Syndicated Short Fiction Project in 1984.

Kim Yong-ik (May 15, 1920 – April 11, 1995), also known as Yong Ik Kim, was an early Korean–American writer originally from Tongyeong, Korea. His works were primarily in English but also translated into other languages such as German and Korean.