Sookmyung Women's University
Kim was born at Pyoktong in what is today North Korea. For a time while a youth, Kim studied at a Buddhist monastery. As a teenager Kim moved to Suwon. He graduated from Suwon Advanced Agricultural and Forestry School (수원고등농림학교) in 1924. In 1925, Kim became a member of a Protestant church and began studies at Tohoku University in Japan from which he graduated in 1930. Kim then served as president of Sookmyung Women's University for a time. In 1946, Kim took charge of the Suwon Agricultural Experimentation Station.