Kim completed climbing all fourteen 8000m peaks in 2013, without breathing bottled oxygen and, though not specifically intended, in the shortest-ever period of seven years and ten months—until Nirmal Purja of Nepal broke the record in October 2018. Less known but more significant is that he climbed formidable new routes and gathered superb first ascents in Himalaya and Karakoram. Peaks and faces he opened a new route include: Shikari (5928m, 2001) in the Yasin valley, Khache Brangsa (5560m, 2001) in the Arandu valley, Nanga Parbat's Rupal face (8125m, 2005), all in Pakistan, Gangapurna's south face (7455m, 2016), Gangapurna West's south face (7140m, 2016), both in the Annapurna range in Nepal, and Papsura's south face (6451m, 2017) in India. With the Gangapurna ascent he and his two colleagues earned the Piolet D'or award in 2017, firstly ever as Korean.