Due to her small stature and the fact that the North Korean Gymnastics Federation listed her given age as 15 for three consecutive years, questions arose about Kim's age and eligibility for senior competition. By at least one estimate, she was as young as 11 when she competed at the 1989 World Championships. While her real age was never ascertained, it was discovered that the Federation had submitted inconsistent birth year information for her at least three times at three separate international competitions. As a result of the falsification, the North Korean women's gymnastics team was banned from the 1993 World Championships.