1998: Debut with Shinhwa Kim made his debut in 1998 as a vocalist in the boy band Shinhwa. Although he is not the
lead vocalist, he began singing bigger parts on Shinhwa's 7th album,
Brand New. In one song from the album "Liar", Kim is the vocalist, and he is accompanied by
Eric Mun's rapping. He also wrote, composed, and arranged a song on the album, titled "Set Free". Though he had branched out as a solo artist, he is part of Shinhwa and just released Shinhwa's 9th album. Kim was one of several Korean celebrities praised by the
Japanese media for giving generous donations for
flood victims in 2006. On April 16, 2007, Kim appeared as a guest on
MC Mong's "Pleasure and Pain" radio show. When asked about an incident early in his career where he injured his nose, he confessed that he had undergone
plastic surgery to change its shape.
2007: Solo debut Kim released his debut solo album,
Kimdongwan Is, on July 5, 2007, which featured collaborations with his fellow Shinhwa members, including Lee Andy rapping in the song "Loving Summer", Shin Hye Sung singing a duet with Kim in "The One Left Alone", and Eric rapping in "My Love". The other members have contributed to the album as well, with Lee Min Woo writing, composing and arranging the song "My Love" and Jun Jin helping him with choreography. Kim expressed gratitude for their contributions, saying, "I've been working together with the group Shinhwa, thus there was a lot of pressure working on the solo album, but since the other members showed up and helped me with most of it, it has been a great big help for me". Kim's first single was the ballad, "Handkerchief", a song about a guy who consoles his girlfriend and wipes away her tears. Despite Shinhwa's musical genre being predominantly American
R&B and
bubblegum pop, Kim said he wanted his album to be more
J-pop influenced, having redone a song by GLAY×EXILE in the album.
Lee Soo-man, founder of SM Entertainment, was an admirer of
X Japan and instructed Kim to dress in X Japan-inspired makeup during the promotion appearances for the group's album
T.O.P. in 1999. Kim later performed
Yoshiki's composition "
Say Anything" at his first solo concert in 2008. For the debut album, Kim also lost a lot of weight, saying that "it's not good for a ballad singer to have a muscular image. Someone singing ballads should have a lean, 'hungry-looking' image." His album sold over 25,000 copies in two days, with 41,490 copies sold by the end of 2007; it was ranked 19th in album sales for the year. In 2008, he released his 2nd solo album,
The Secret; Between Us. The album featured collaborations with
Tiffany of
SNSD,
Jade Valerie, Shinhwa bandmate
Eric, and Heritage.
2008–2011: Military service and musical Kim enlisted for
mandatory military service in November 2008, at an army training camp in
Gongju,
South Chungcheong Province He was discharged on 17 December 2010, after serving 24 months as an administrative worker at the
Seodaemun-gu District Office. Upon being discharged Kim joined Shinhwa bandmate
Shin Hye-sung at Liveworks Company and has since played the lead role of Hedwig in theatrical musical
Hedwig and the Angry Inch at Sang Sang Art Hall in Seoul. In August 2011, Kim played the role of Korean independence activist, Lee Youk-sa in
MBC two-part special drama,
The Peak, also known as
Life of Lee Youk-Sa, the Poet who Embraced Epoch. It was broadcast on Korea's
Liberation Day, 15 August 2011. Lee Youk-sa was a poet during the
Japanese Colonial Period who died in prison at the age of 40, leaving behind a collection of some 40 works of poetry.
2012: Shinhwa comeback and acting In March 2012, Kim reunited with his Shinhwa bandmates for their comeback after four years, under the management of 'Shinhwa Company'. It is a joint venture agency for members to perform as a group, of which Eric and Lee Min-woo are co-CEOs and the remaining members are shareholders. The Company manages the group as a whole, whilst members' individual activities are managed by their respective agencies. The group released their tenth studio album
The Return on 23 March 2012, launched their comeback concerts
2012 Shinhwa Grand Tour: The Return throughout Asia and their first exclusive variety program
Shinhwa Broadcast premiered on 17 March 2012 on cable channel
JTBC. In July, Kim co-starred with
Kim Myung-min and
Lee Hanee in thriller
Deranged as Jae-pil, a detective agonized with guilt for squandering his brother's money in the stock market. In August, Kim was cast as the title role of Kim Tae-pyung in
KBS' daily drama,
Cheer Up, Mr. Kim!, about a male domestic cleaner and housekeeper, the guardian of three, later four, children, none of whom are his own. The series premiered in November and marked Kim's first television drama since
Good Bye, Sadness in 2005. At the 2012
KBS Drama Awards, Kim received the
Best Actor in Daily Drama award for his portrayal of Mr Kim. ==Philanthropy==