[3] Regardless, he persisted in developing his drawing skills and was eventually able to embark on a career as an animator.
[3] In 2016, Hong Sung-ho, president of Locus Studios, persuaded Kim to return to South Korea to work as executive creative director of the Korean feature animated film Red Shoes (which premiered in July 2019).
[1][4] According to Hong, at that time, Kim had been left with nothing new to design because Disney was then focused on developing sequels rather than entirely new films.
[4] Kim was also happy to work with an animation team in the Korean language[4] for the first time since a three-year period in the South Korean animation industry at the beginning of his career.
[2] In May 2018, Kim returned to Los Angeles to work on Pearl Studio/Netflix's film, Over the Moon, which was directed by fellow Disney animator Glen Keane.