Shortly after completing High School Kim obtained a private pilot’s licence and embarked on legal studies at Auckland University. Fortuitously, the Auckland Law School offered air law as one of its elective subjects for the LLB degree taught by Dr Paul Heller. This course was a career ‘light bulb’ moment which led to Kim moving to Wellington to take up a position in the legal section of the Ministry of Transport. In that role, he received a State Services Commission scholarship for postgraduate studies in air and space law with the famous Professor Bin Cheng at University College London.

Kim’s interest in air and space law sparked a wider interest in international law. During a period of leave from his Crown Counsel position he returned to London to complete a Master of Laws degree in public international law at the London School of Economics and Political Science. This degree included the subjects: methods and sources of international law; law of the sea; law of international organisations; and comparative constitutional law of selected Commonwealth countries taught by leading academics in those subjects at the time.

In 2001 and 2002 together with another colleague Kim taught air law in the Victoria University of Wellington LLB Hons/LLM Programme. In 2017 and 2018 Kim then started providing guest lectures as part of the Auckland Law School aviation law course sponsored by Air New Zealand.

In 2019 and 2020 Kim took on the role of course director and teaching fellow for the air and space Law LLB/LLB Hons elective at the Auckland Law School, including supervision of student research. After Covid interrupted the Auckland course Kim then taught air and space law as an elective subject for undergraduate LLB students at Victoria University of Wellington during 2024.

Kim continues his efforts to have the teaching of air and space law established on a more permanent basis at one or more of the New Zealand law schools. It is hoped that eventually all law students will have the opportunity to leave law school with a sound understanding of not only the law of the land and the sea but also the law of the air and outer space.