Kim became the only Korean, who was selected for the Japanese squad for the 1936 Summer Olympics, and contributed to defeating Sweden by assisting the winning goal in the tournament. In 1937, Kim joined Waseda University which had many Japan national team's players but he went back to Korea because of the discrimination about Koreans. He could participate in the Olympics with Korean nationality after the end of the Japanese forced occupation. He achieved the first victory of the South Korea football history against Mexico in the 1948 Summer Olympics, in which he participated as a player-coach. After the retirement, he managed South Korea at the 1954 FIFA World Cup and 1960 AFC Asian Cup.