Agency for Defense Development
Kim completed his bachelor's degree in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Seoul National University in 1973. After graduation, he started his mandatory military service as a Republic of Korea Air Force officer specializing in aircraft maintenance. In 1974, he moved from that position to a military research organization, the Agency for Defense Development (ADD), and worked as an experimental aerodynamicist in the trisonic wind tunnel test facility at ADD. He continued working in ADD after his retirement from the Air Force until 1979. He was promoted to senior researcher with the development of the six component sting balance for the trisonic wind tunnel.