In 1992, he went to the United Kingdom to begin his service as financial and economic counselor in the South Korean embassy there.
[3] After serving as the FSS' vice-governor from 2000 to 2001, Kim took up the position of chairman and CEO of the government-owned Industrial Bank of Korea, which he held until 2004.
[6] During his tenure at IBK, he also wrote a 240-page not-for-sale promotional book entitled Humorous Bundle (유머보따리), which was distributed in an effort to bring about a spirited corporate culture by changing the stiff image of bankers and create a livelier place of work.
[3] As one of his first acts upon taking office, Kim set up the Change Management Task Force and charged it with eliminating the deep-seated practices and embedded culture of heavy-handedness for which the financial supervisory authority was criticized.
[10] He also ordered a probe into how the organization was perceived at large in order to identify areas that the market viewed as heavy-handed of the financial regulator, and to clearly set down the accountability and performance of senior officials, a structure of divisions was adopted to complement the oversight of the respective areas of financial services.
Unlike the aftermath of the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, when the restructuring of insolvent corporate debtors had taken place in an atmosphere of panic, Kim championed a preventive restructuring drive based on corporate debtors and industrial sectors that were likely to face difficulties in meeting their obligations.