The Korean Chamber Ensemble, founded in 1965 in Seoul by cellist Bong-Cho Jeon, quickly became a leading chamber group in the country. Since 1979, when Min Kim became its new director, the ensemble has been establishing a growing international reputation by embarking on numerous international tours to increasing critical and popular acclaim. It has given over 450 concerts in Korea, the U.S., Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Croatia, Poland, Denmark, Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, China and Singapore. Its nine-city tour of the United States and Canada in 1995, arranged by Columbia Artists Management Inc. to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the group's inception, received outstanding reviews from such prestigious publications as the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post and the Toronto Star. The group seven-city tour of Europe in 1997 received similar praise from German newspapers such as the Badische Zeitung and the Mindelheimer Zeitung.
More recently, the Korean Chamber Ensemble made its Chinese debut in October 1998, participating in the 1st International Beijing Music Festival, and its Salzburg debut in July 1999. Also in 1999, the ensemble participated in the UNESCO Concert for Peace in Paris where it was officially designated as a UNESCO Chamber Orchestra for Peace. During the following year, the group successfully completed a one-month tour of Poland, Croatia and Germany, performed in a special concert at the UN General Assembly Hall where it was designated as a UN Chamber Orchestra, and completed a tour of Singapore. In September 2001, it went on its third European tour that included a concert, a first for a Korean artistic group, in the Chamber Music Hall of the Berlin Philharmonie, home of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. The critics praised the ensemble as a “first class orchestra with resilient tonal colors and precise ensemble work.” The 2002 season, it finished successfully a performance in the famed Tivoli Concert Hall in Copenhagen and the 2003 season, European tour in Italy and Germany with a favorable criticism, and recently released 2CDs 'J.S.Bach Brandenburg Concertos' under prestigious EMI. The Korean Chamber Ensemble has performed with internationally renowned soloists such as Nicolas Chumachenco, Liana Isakadza, Xiang-Dong Gong, Zakhar Bron, Frank Lloyd, Marisa Robles, Salvatore Accardo, Christian Edinger, Young-Uck Kim, Leon Spierer, Christoph Henkel, Rudolf Meister and Felix Ayo. In addition, the group has released 12 CDs, encompassing a wide range of repertoire, which have established a new standard of excellence in the field of classical music in Korea.
In the 2004-2005 season the Korean Chamber Ensemble gave concerts at Heidelberg Chamber Orchestra Festival in Germany, Naantali International Music Festival in Finland, Rheingau Music Festival in Germany.