Born in Busan, Kim began to study ballet when she was 12, completing her training at the Bolshoi Ballet School in 1998. The same year she joined the Korean National Ballet where she soon gained the distinction of prima ballerina. Kim has contributed significantly to Korean ballet taking leading roles in Giselle, Swan Lake, Don Quixote and Jean-Christophe Maillot's Romeo and Juliet. Between 1998 and 2012, Kim performed approximately 100 times a year, practicing three or four different programs at a time. Semi-nude photos of her in Vogue and a photographer's exhibition in 2007 were considered controversial.
