V ladimir Kim is a powerful Kazakhstani oligarch who is the president and largest individual shareholder of KAZ Minerals, a major copper mining company. He is also the chairman and a major shareholder of Kazakhmys, a diversified mining and metals company. Of Korean descent, he started his career during the Soviet era. During the tumultuous privatization of state assets in the 1990s, he gained control of some of Kazakhstan's most valuable mining assets.

He has since built his companies into major players in the global copper market. KAZ Minerals is listed on the London Stock Exchange and has extensive mining operations in Kazakhstan and other parts of Central Asia. He is considered the wealthiest person in Kazakhstan and is a powerful and influential figure in the country's business and political circles. His career has been marked by both immense success and the controversy that often surrounds the oligarchs who benefited from post-Soviet privatizations.