She spent the 2017–18 season in the Chinese Volleyball league and came back to Turkey in the following year with Eczacıbaşı VitrA.

[9] Kim is the first player in the history of Asian volleyball to receive an MVP award in the CEV Women's Champions League.

[10] Kim is the first player to have four entries in the list of those to have scored 30 points or more in a single Olympic Games match in volleyball.

She received the spotlight of the Korean media due to her outstanding physical condition and performance in the high school stage.

[13] Afterwards, she was selected as the first choice in the first round of the V-League draft by the Cheonan Heungkuk Life, where she started her professional volleyball career.

Heungkuk Life and JT Marvelous agreed on a two-year loan agreement for the player with the possibility of a one-year extension negotiated after the first season.

We didn't think about Italy, but we contacted three other Japanese teams, including Toray Arrows, last season's champion," the Pink Spiders official Kim Hyun-do said at press conference.

"JT Marvelous failed to find good import players last season, so it was the most active team seeking to sign Kim.

With Kim as the main attacking weapon of the team, JT, which were ninth out of 10 teams in the previous season, achieved a miraculous record in the 2009–10 regular season [ja] with a winning streak for 25 games, which is second highest record after NEC Red Rockets's 31 winning streak in 2001.

During the off-season, Kim participated in the KOVO Cup in August as she was still registered for Heungkuk Life, and she led the team to victory as MVP.

After the 2012 London Olympics, Kim had a dispute over her Free Agent Status with her previous Korean team Heungkuk Life.

"[19]Kim and her agent hit back by saying the document had libelous statements and called it improper while both sides were still trying to solve the problem.

If she really broke the rules in July last year, KVA and KOVO must hold a committee meeting to determine punishment and announce the result.

Kim made three major demands for Heungkuk, KVA and KOVO: to inquire anew to FIVB whether she has a team she originally belongs to; answer her request for issuance of an agreement of consent on her international transfer she submitted; and answer her appeal against the July 2 public disclosure of her as a "player who randomly bolted her team."

"[20]On September 6, 2013, FIVB sent documents with its final decision on the issue to KVA, Heungkuk, Fenerbahçe and the Turkish Federation.

Kim's agency Inspokorea hit back on the alleged unofficial lobbying in a statement, urging Heungkuk to respect FIVB's decision.

[24][25] After her performance against Dinamo Kazan, Alexandre Jioshvili [fr] said in an interview with L'Équipe that Kim was the "future Michael Jordan of volleyball", with great skills in both offense and defense.

Zoran Terzić reflected that the team had "a lot of problems to make blocks and defend against her," who is "one of the best players in the world, no doubts about it.

Korea lost to Japan in the final Bronze Medal Match, despite Kim scoring 22 points with a 47.22% efficiency rate.

According to FIVB, Kim, being an "MVP at the 2012 London Olympic Game, is a fan's favourite all around the world," thus confirmed by the organization as a member of the Athletes Commission.

[31] During the 2016 Olympic World Qualification Tournament, Kim showed outstanding performance against Netherlands, helping Korea win 3–0.

[33] Kim played a decisive role in securing a ticket to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the Asian Continental Qualifiers held in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand.

[34] After Kim's contract ended with Eczacıbaşı, various media sources reported on the possibility of her going to Beijing, or returning to Korea in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

[36] Kim is considered to be the best player of Korea since playing for the National Team since 2005, topping the score and attack statistics leaderboard in almost every single game.

In 2012, she tore her right meniscus during the preliminary game against Brazil during the 2012 London Olympics which was worsened when failing to land properly during the quarterfinals against Italy.

Ahead of the 2012–2013 season, Kim decided to push through with only rehabilitation and not receive surgery despite various health checks that advised her to.

[48] In 2021, during the second game against Hwaseong IBK Altos, she sustained a thumb injury on her right hand while blocking but continued to play after receiving treatment.

During the third game against Hwaseong IBK Altos, Coach Park Mihee of Pink Spiders' said in a pre-match interview that Kim herself decided to play with a taped hand.

[50] Kim created her YouTube channel on the 14th of July 2019 where she frequently posts videos to share her daily life with her fans.