After serving as Secretary-General of the Namhae farmers' association from 1987, Kim was prefect of Namhae County in the 1990s. He failed in a bid to become governor of South Gyeongsang in 2002. In 2003, he was chosen as Minister for Government Administration and Home Affairs by
Roh Moo-hyun, but on 3 September of that year the National Assembly voted to dismiss him. He unsuccessfully contested Namhae in the
2004 National Assembly elections for the
Uri Party, winning 16.9% of the vote. He subsequently lost a second attempt to become governor in 2006.
Governorship In the
2010 local elections, Kim won an upset victory in the South Gyeongsang gubernatorial election as an independent candidate, and took office as governor on 1 July 2010. Despite originally promising to maintain his independence, in February 2011 he joined the Democratic United Party.
Party politics After the party's defeat in the
2012 parliamentary elections, Kim emerged as an alternative candidate for the DUP nomination for that year's presidential election, though he had been considered as a potential frontrunner beforehand. He has been termed the "little Roh Moo-hyun" on account of his unprivileged background and his principles. However, he withdrew from the campaign on 18 April, after he had criticized the
Democratic Party's rules in conducting its primaries as being biased in favor of another candidate. ==References==