In 1956, during Dr. Kimm's freshman year in high school, an incident occurred that would affect and direct his life for the next forty years. One day after returning from his classes, Dr. Kimm fell asleep and had a strange dream. He could see a beggar approaching him, and with a smiling face the beggar gave him a Korean rice cake and told him to eat it. Dr. Kimm violently refused and awoke from his nap with an uneasy feeling. He remembered a compulsion inside him that made him feel that he must leave the boarding house and return home right away. As soon as school was out on Saturday, Dr. Kimm caught a train and left for his parent's home. When Dr. Kimm arrived at his family's home he could hear his entire family crying. They all were kneeling on the floor and his father was lying on the floors between them. Dr. Kimm learned that his father had been playing cards and gambling with Kwon Oh-ik, on of four Kwon brothers. As one would expect, a small disagreement turned into an argument which turned into a big fight, resulting in the four Kwon brothers assaulting Dr. Kimm's father. Both families had been rivals for several generations but most of the time there had been peaceful co-existence. From time to time both families were involved in frictions and this card-playing incident was just another example of friction.

Severely injured, Dr. Kimm's father had to be carried home and was later admitted into a hospital in Suwon City where he stayed for approximately six months. The Dr. Kimm family pursued legal battle for three years which, along with the medical bills, accumulated into sizable debts. Although the court battles were won by the Dr. Kimm family, the compensation amount was not enough to pay all the debts that had been incurred. In order to pay the remaining debts, they had to sell the family land.

 
Suddenly, Dr. Kimm was cast into the whole ugly picture and had to become a principal. In this situation where Confucianism still dominated the society morals, traditionally it was his duty as the eldest son to revenge his father's honor. He realized that his few years of martial arts training from school were far from adequate if he was to fight four brothers. Dr. Kimm's first thought was to join the police academy, get a gun, and revenge his father in that way. In Korea civilians were not allowed to own any type of firearm, so the police academy was his only source for a gun. That idea never materialized because the academy required a high school diploma and Dr. Kimm was too young. All that remained was for Dr. Kimm to practice many different types of martial arts that would enable him to defeat the four brothers. Then, after three years, he would visit the Kwon brothers for revenge. Dr. Kimm finally decided on this course of action.

The training that followed was demanding. Routinely, Dr. Kimm got up before sunrise and ran barefoot towards the mountain (the same mountain where Korea University is now located). Atop the mountain, Dr. Kimm practiced breath control and ki techniques that would help him move ki from one place in his body to another and to concentrate it in a single spot according to need.

At East High School, Dr. Kimm practiced Yudo and Bi-Sool (self-defense) under Grandmaster Song Kwang-sub. The unique self-defense of Bi Sool was the defense against knife attack and big throwing circles. Grandmaster Song always insisted to his students that your mind and body must be one and be gentle and soft like cotton or flowing water. He also maintained that you had to be able to adapt to new situations. In other words, if your body was stiff or frozen, you could not move quickly. He always compares this type of gentleness to the branches of the willow trees. When snow and ice piles on the branches of the oak trees, the branches will break. Snow and ice cannot pile up on willow trees due to the flexibility of the branches. Using this logic, when an opponent punches, the power of all his punches will be absorbed if your body is soft or relaxed as the willow tree branches and you will receive minimum impact. Simultaneously, your mind must not be stiff so that you can move quickly to avoid an attack.

Dr. Kimm also attended East Gate dojang where he trained under Grandmaster Kim Jong-chun and also became aquatinted with Dr. Min Kwan shik who later became Minister of Education. Dr. Kimm also attended Central Yudo School where he trained under Grandmaster Bang Young-doo, the head instructor of the Korean Police Headquarters. Dr. Kimm also attended Korea Gym where he trained under Grandmaster Yu Sook-dong and also received instructions in Kong Soo Do and boxing. Dr. Kimm recalls that both East Gate Gym and Korea Gym were built with Army tents and that is was hard training due to the extreme hot in the summer and extreme cold in the winter. There was no heat in the winter or fans in the summer. The changing seasons meant nothing to him. The weather conditions never prevented him from studying or practicing his martial arts.