Kim is identified in the media as pro-Japanese due to his political positions and alleged glamorization of Japanese colonial rule in Korea, and has been accused of character defamation against various historical Korean nationalists. In 2004, a Seoul prosecutor indicted him for comments he made about Kim Gu. In 2006, Kim Eul-dong, the granddaughter of early 20th-century Korean nationalist Kim Jwa-jin, accused him of defamation of character for comments he made about Kim Jwa-jin in an essay posted on portal site Daum.
