North Hwanghae Province
Kim was born in what is now North Korea's North Hwanghae Province. He graduated from the Workers' Party of Korea's Kim Il-sung Higher Party School and has been serving in the Korean People's Army since 1962, holding several positions in the army's General Political Bureau as well as commander of army corps. His first public mention was as a funeral committee member for late Marshal Choe Kwang in 1997. He was elected deputy to the Supreme People's Assembly in 1998.