Ji Min Kim | |||||
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Eric Steinberg as Ji Min Kim | |||||
The Young and the Restless | |||||
Portrayed by | Eric Steinberg | ||||
Current status | Former, Recurring | ||||
Duration | 2006-2007 | ||||
First appearance | October 2, 2006 | ||||
Last appearance | September 5, 2007 | ||||
Cause/reason | Death | ||||
Created by | Lynn Marie Latham Kay Alden John F. Smith | ||||
Introduced by | Lynn Marie Latham | ||||
Profile | |||||
Gender | Male | ||||
Died | September 5, 2007 | ||||
Cause of death | Strangled by David Chow | ||||
Occupation | CEO of Jabot Cosmetics Former CEO of House of Kim | ||||
Residence | Genoa City, Wisconsin | ||||
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Ji Min Kim was a fictional character on The Young and the Restless, portrayed by Eric Steinberg.
Biography[]
Ji Min Kim was a self-professed chemist and CEO.
In 2006, Ji Min was the owner of The House of Kim, a dummy corporation that Jack Abbott had set up so that he could secretly buy back Jabot Cosmetics from Katherine Chancellor. After being forbidden to own Jabot by a lawsuit settlement, Jack arranged for Ji Min to buy it for him, so he could secretly own Jabot until he sold it at a loss to Katherine. Ji Min quickly became embroiled in the corporate intrigue surrounding Katherine, Jack and Victor Newman. Thanks to Abby Newman, Victor figured out that Jack owned Jabot and was bent on Jack's destruction once again. Ashley Abbott was so upset by the collusion that she accepted a position with House of Kim in Hong Kong, taking her daughter Abby with her.
Ji Min had become interested in Jill Abbott and was consistent in asking her out for drinks and meals. Jack's bitter former stepmother, Gloria Abbott, had been monitoring the security cameras in Ji Min's office with the help of her son, Kevin Fisher. Gloria was determined to prove that Jack was the one pulling the strings at Jabot. Gloria had also been slipping Jill sexual enhancement drugs to ensure that she and Ji Min had sex in the office, thus destroying Jill's relationship with William Bardwell. Although Gloria's plan may have been successful in ending any possibly of a Jill and William pairing, it also was successful in uniting Jill and Ji Min, who found they had an attraction to each other outside of a libido enhancer. They did it in the boardroom.
Jill and Ji Min stumbled upon Gloria's scheme when Jill's routine physical showed an abnormal amount of hormones. Ji Min and Jill figured out what Gloria had done and were plotting their payback while at the Extreme Catwalk shoot. Jill spiked Gloria's and Evan Owen's coffee, trying to do to her what she had done to them. Evan and Gloria ended up having a tryst, but unfortunately, William came by too late to catch them in the act. Katherine, Jill's mother (or so it was believed at the time) and CEO of Chancellor Industries, was not a fan of Ji Min. Due to his involvement with Jack's Jabot scheme Katharine distrusted Ji Min and did not like his involvement with her daughter.
Katherine bought Jabot back from Jack and wanted Ji Min to leave Genoa City. Although Kim confessed that he had always found his calling as that of an evil math teacher, he nevertheless stayed in the city. Trying to make her daughter end her relationship with Ji Min, Katherine gave Jill an ultimatum: the man or the job; either she remained Jabot's CEO and gave up her relationship with Ji Min or she stepped down as CEO which would allow Ji Min to be CEO but then she could keep her man. Jill decided to keep her man. Ji Min proposed to Jill and the two were engaged. He was let go from Jabot by Katherine, who felt he was not trustworthy, and began working with Jill to start their own company, which would compete with Jabot Cosmetics.
Livid with Jack, Kay and Ji Min for outwitting him, Victor lit into Nikki Newman for not warning him, telling her he sold her NVP Retreats not to please her but so she would have to sell her Jabot stock, then he could go after Jack. Nikki had enough of his pompous behavior and moved out. She and Victor divorced again. Nikki asked David Chow to work for her running NVP, and they became lovers.
On September 4, 2007 Ji Min was found dead in his room at the Genoa City Athletic Club. The cause of death was strangulation; however, it was not known who did it but evidence suggested that it was either Jack or Victor. Later video footage suggested it was Victor and he was arrested.
On July 1, 2008, flashbacks suggested that David Chow, acting on loanshark Walter Palin's behalf, killed Ji Min as a way to "pay off a debt." Later, Paul Williams concluded that Ji Min had been murdered after discovering that Walter and David had mob connections. Ji Min had been silenced when he attempted to break free of their influence.