Kim Kaphwan

"Evil is unforgivable!"

- Kim Kaphwan's famous quote

"Let's go!"

- Kim in Battle Intro

"I can't let this end here, not if I'm to show others a true warrior's path."

- Kim's win quote

"So, with this result you must understand the greatness of Tae Kwon Do!"

- Kim

Kim Kaphwan is one of the heroes from both the Fatal Fury and The King of Fighters series of fighting games. Kim is a master of Taekwondo and considers himself a fighter of justice. Kim's original teammates, Chang Koehan and Choi Bounge, were to be teamed up with another dangerous criminal character to form the "Fugitive Team", but Kim was added to the team instead. His official nickname is The Crown Jewel of Taekwondo.

Personality
Kim strives for excellence and righteousness in everything he does, be it his fighting or personal life. He is a loving husband and father, and a strict disciplinarian. He is deeply respected and admired by his acquaintances for his honesty and bravery, and has many friends amongst the characters in both King of Fighters and Fatal Fury. However, he apparently can't handle his liquor very well, as seen in his team's ending for The King of Fighters XI.

One of Kim's defining characteristics is his strong, inherent sense of justice. He has the ability to tell whether or not someone is evil at a glance. As such, Kim has a special opening pose whenever he fights against an evil character, someone influenced by Orochi or any other sinister power. In this pose, he glares menacingly at the evil opponent, slowly raises his hand and points at the opponent, saying "Aku wa yurusan..." ("Evil is unforgivable...") "Hah!" before jumping into his fighting stance.

Watching Kim's intro against a character is a good way to tell if the character is considered evil in the canon of the story. He is able to identify all members of the Hakkesshu, NESTS, and Those from the Past, as well as Geese Howard and his affiliates, and non group-associated characters Rugal Bernstein, K', Iori Yagami, Ash Crimson, Silber, and Jyazu. Kim erroneously identifies Kula Diamond and Adelheid Bernstein as evil, so he isn't perfect at the ability, but the former does not count because Kula was working with NESTS before KOF XI, while the latter does count because he is the son of the evil Rugal. This also culminated in SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos where he can also identify all members of the Shadaloo and Capcom's "Forces of Darkness".

Kim also feels joy in training as many people as he can. He feels that training his pupils in Tae Kwon Do is an obligation to the world, as his training program not only teaches the martial art itself, but also teaches the concepts of justice and honesty. Kim's devotion to justice can be overzealous and even fanatic, always trying to recruit and reform evil people into the Tae Kwon Do ways. Kim has trained many students over the years (voluntarily and forcibly), and will always try and "recruit" as many fighters as he can into his training regime.

Fatal Fury
Kim Kaphwan is the reigning world champion of Tae Kwon Do. Kim is invited by Wolfgang Krauser to compete in his King of Fighters tournament as he was hoping to face superb challengers. During the tournament Kim encounters the "Lone Wolf", Terry Bogard. Kim acknowledges Terry as the superior fighter and the duo become good friends. From that moment on Kim helps Terry in all that he can, though a definite (but friendly) rivalry is maintained.

The King of Fighters
Kim is considered a sport and national hero in his native Korea. This status is what enabled him to convince the authorities to give him custody over Chang Koehan and Choi Bounge to rehabilitate them of their criminal ways. Although both men resented Kim for his actions, they have since grown to grudgingly respect him. In most of his King of Fighters appearances, he has been team captain of Team Korea.

In The King of Fighters XI, Kim appeared as a member of Team Fatal Fury in place of Tizoc. Wanting to see Kim enjoy himself for once, Chang and Choi convince him to join Terry Bogard and Duck King. Although he's happy that his disciples have matured, he is forced to play the middle man between his teammates, both of them ragging on each other over trivial grievances. In the team's ending, the team celebrates at the Pao Pao Cafe and Kim becomes humorously drunk, advising Terry to find a wife and get married.

Realizing that his first "rehabilitation subjects" have amended their ways, Kim remembers two other villains that have disturbed him in the past, Hwa Jai and Raiden, and calls them to Southtown. Kim believes that they are still working for Geese Howard and demands that they repent. Though they immediately retort that they already have, Kim states that their talents continue to be wasted on Geese and is intent on changing their "criminal ways". His new team shocks the media and it becomes a popular subject of gossip with those who hear it. In his team's ending, Hwa Jai and Raiden act as though they were "reformed" by Kim and the gullible Kim falls for the act. Parting ways with the duo, Kim realizes that he might have been "too soft" on Chang and Choi. To honor the words of his former teammates and the struggles they went through, he decides to intensify the two criminals' already strict training.

He has a master named Gang-il who forms a team with him in The King of Fighters XIV.