After graduation, he was signed by the OB Bears, which later became Doosan, and directly took the starting catcher position on the team as a rookie in Korean professional baseball's first year in 1982.
Kim eventually led his team to the first Korean Series Championship in the KBO history, along with his battery mate Park Chul-soon who won 22 consecutive games in the regular season.
Kim was not a very good hitter, batting around the Mendoza Line during his ten seasons, but is considered one of the best defensive catchers of all time.
After the 2007 season Kim was named the manager of for the South Korea national baseball team, and in August he participated in the 2008 Olympic Games held in Beijing, China.
He continued his successful career for four consecutive years from 2014, including advancing his team to the postseason each season.