Julius-Jeongwon Kim was born in 1975 in Seoul, Korea, and had his first approach to the piano at the age of 5. A few years later he had already won prestigious competitions such as the Korea Daily Newspaper Competition and the Young Asian International Piano Competition. Scoring first at the highly demanding entrance exam, he entered Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts (Austria) at the age of 15, studying in the piano performance class of Michael Krist.
In 1992 he was awarded first prize at the Elena Rombro-Stepanov International Piano Competition in Vienna and performed Chopin's Piano concerto No 1 with his university's Symphony Orchestra, an event that initialized an outstretch of his musical talent through a series of performances such as a memorial recital for the 200th Commemoration of Mozart's Death at Vienna Konzerthaus, a concert for a Russian music festival dedicated to Modest Mussorgsky, and a recital upon invitation from the International Chopin Society
After completing his bachelor's program at Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts with honors, Julius entered the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique de Paris, studying with Jacques Rouvier. When he unexpectedly won first prize at the Boesendorfer International Piano Competition in 1997, some professionals who were on the jury expected a successful participation in theWarsaw International Chopin Competition in 2000; however, Julius only reached the quarter finals, yet he was proposed an unusual concert engagement:
Jan Popis, the internationally acclaimed Polish music critics, suggested that Julius, along with former first-prize winners of the Chopin Competition, be invited to perform at a special gala concert. The recital, proceded by various questioning voices, ended up in a triumph: regardless outstanding co-performers (Philippe Giusiano, first-prize winner of the 1995 edition, and his predecessor Krysztof Yablonsky), the critics agreed that Julius be a rising star in the classical music world. He is one of the most acknowledged pianists of his generation in Korea.