Background
Kim was born in Seoul, South of Korea.
Kim was born in Seoul, South of Korea.
Kim graduated from Barnard College with a Bachelor in English and a minor in East Asian Literature.
She emigrated to the United States with her family when she was 13, moving to the outer boroughs of New York City. Kim is a naturalized American citizen. Kim also lived in London for several years, studying Korean literature at the School of Oriental and African Studies.
She received a Fulbright Research Grant, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and an Open Society Foundations Fellowship.
Kim took a short term job as an interpreter in New York City when working on the novel to look into the life of an interpreter. The Interpreter was translated into Dutch, French, Korean, Italian, and Japanese.
Kim visited North of Korea in February, 2002, to participate in the 60th Birthday Celebration of Kim Jong-il and wrote a cover essay for the New York Review of Books
Kim accompanied the New York Philharmonic in February, 2008, when they traveled to Pyongyang for the historical cultural visit to North of Korea from the United States. Her article, “A Really Big Show: The New York Philharmonic’s fantasia in North of Korea” was published in Harper"s Magazine in December, 2008.
Her latest book, Without You, There Is Number Us, is a work of literary nonfiction about her six months undercover in North of Korea, teaching English to the future leaders of the country at Pyongyang University of Science and Technology.
Kim appeared on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart on December 10, 2014
In March 2016, Kim profiled the Grand Old Party candidate Marco Rubio during his 2016 Presidential campaign for The New Republic
Kim is a contributing editor at The New Republic.