Not every statement lacking “ka-” is necessarily a simile. The context may point instead to literal predication, metaphor, or another rhetorical device. One must first establish the intended relation.
Sometimes a statement implies comparison without expressing it in the usual comparative pattern. The poetic description of a sun confronting a superior face illustrates how a likeness may be conveyed through an indirect claim.
The sound method is to establish the meaning, then identify the subject, model, and shared respect. Absence of a comparison particle alone does not prove that the full structure of a simile is intended.