새누리당
Kim was first elected to the National Assembly representing the Nam District of Busan in 1996 as a member of the then-ruling New Korea Party. He was subsequently elected three more times from the same district and in 2008 was forced to run as an independent after losing renomination from his own party. He again failed to win renomination for the same constituency in 2012 and temporarily left politics between 2012 and 2013. He ran as the Saenuri Party candidate in a by-election held in Yeongdo District, Busan, and won his fifth term in the National Assembly in 2013. In 2014, he was elected leader of the ruling Saenuri Party. However, he resigned in April 2016 after the defeat of Saenuri Party in the National Assembly.