| “ | 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 in The King of Fighters XIV. |
Kim Kaphwan (김갑환) is one of the protagonists 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.
History
Fatal Fury
Kim Kaphwan is the reigning world champion of Tae Kwon Do. He has been able to use this advantage in his favor fighting against the best fighters on the world. It travel first to fight against Wolfgang Krauser, who was looking for decent challenges. On the way, he encountered the same "Hungry Wolf", Terry Bogard. Soon they became good friends, and since then, Kim always agrees to help Terry as much as he can, even though the rivalry still holds. Kim also has two childrens, Kim Dong Hwan and Kim Jae Hoon, as well as a wife (called Myeng Swuk in Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture).
The King of Fighters
Kim is considered in his native Korea as the best athlete and national hero. This status was the one that supported him when he asked the authorities for the custody of Chang Koehan and Choi Bounge to rehabilitate them from their criminal careers. Although both men resent Kim for their actions, they have come to respect him. In most of his appearances in The King of Fighters, he has been the captain of the "Team Korea" team.
In The King of Fighters XI, Kim appears as a member of the Fatal Fury team in the place of Tizoc. Wanting to see Kim enjoy, Chang and Choi convince him to join Terry Bogard and Duck King. Although he is happy that his disciples have matured, he is forced to be the mediator between the teams, both fighting for trivial situations. In the ending of the team, the team celebrates at the Pao Pao Cafe and Kim gets drunk, advising Terry to look for a woman and get married.
Realizing that his first "rehabilitation subjects" have been on track, Kim remembers two other villains who were bothering him in the past, Hwa Jai and Raiden, and calls them to see each other in Southtown. Kim thinks they still work for Geese Howard and demands that they repent. Although they say they have done it for a long time, Kim believes that his talent has been wasted under Geese's orders and is willing to change his "criminal ways". His new team surprises the media and quickly becomes a popular object of gossip. In the ending of his team, Hwa Jai and Raiden act as if they had actually been reformed by Kim, and Kim completely swallows the act. Dividing herself at the end, Kim realizes that she may have been "very soft" with Chang and Choi. To honor the words of his former teammates and the fights they went through, he decided to intensify the training of his two companions.
He has a master named Gang-il who forms a team with him in The King of Fighters XIV.
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.
Powers and Abilities
Kim has been the Tae Kwon Do world champion for twenty years, and fights by-the-book. He's also an acrobatics expert, and can sense evil intent. He has been occasionally seen summoning a phoenix as part of his disciplines.
Gallery
Trivia
- In the fan Q&A for Neo Geo Battle Coliseum, a fan asked Kim about his thoughts regarding hypocrites. In an "interview", Kim answers that any sort of lie is evil and unforgivable. He then naively asks why he received this question.
