Before his graduation in 1977, he attended the classes of, among others, Seiji Ozawa, Kazuyoshi Akiyama, Tadashi Mori and Shunsaku Tsutsumi.
Upon Tsutsumi's recommendation, he was appointed as resident conductor of the Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra while he was studying at Toho.
Kim was appointed as the conductor of a television program titled 'Here comes the orchestra' of Tokyo Broadcasting System(TBS) with Kazushi Ono and Deryck Inoue in 1980.
In 1990, he participated in the 'Pan-Nation Unification Concert' held in Pyongyang and conducted Yun's Fanfare und Memorial in the presence of the composer.
He introduced many North and South Korean songs and orchestral works, including those produced by his maternal uncle, Cheol-Woo Lee.
He also met Joe Hisaishi, a well-known composer of Hayao Miyazaki and Takeshi Kitano's film music, with whom he appeared in many concerts together since 1991.
Kim also conducted crossover concerts with Jazz musicians including Aiko Takahashi and Terumasa Hino.
In October 2000, he visited South Korea for the first time for the ASEM Music Festival held in Seoul where he conducted Isang Yun's Muak and the Asian premiere of Ferruccio Busoni's Piano Concerto played by the well-known pianist Baek Geon-Woo (Kun-Woo Paik) and the KBS Symphony Orchestra.
Since November 2007, Kim has been appointed to his very first position in South Korea as the principal conductor of the Ulsan Symphony Orchestra.