Kim Kwang-hyun revealed the reason why he did not enter the free agent market and signed an extension.

In an interview prior to the match against the Lotte Giants in the '2025 Shinhan Bank SOL Bank KBO League' held at Incheon SSG Landers Field on the 13th, Kim said, "After resting this time, I spoke with the team and we formed a consensus, leading to the contract."

Kim Kwang-hyun, who recorded 400 games (2,249 innings) with 174 wins, 104 losses, 2 holds, and an earned run average of 3.35 in the KBO League, is a franchise star symbolizing SSG. His performance this season includes 13 games (71⅓ innings) with 4 wins, 6 losses, and an earned run average of 3.91. After finishing the season, Kim, who will qualify for free agency, announced a multi-year contract worth 3.6 billion won (annual salary of 3 billion won, option of 600 million won) with SSG.

Kim Kwang-hyun signed a contract worth 8.5 billion won over four years on November 4, 2016, when he first became eligible for free agency. After the free agent contract, he continued to perform well and challenged to enter Major League Baseball through posting after the 2019 season, fulfilling his dream of joining Major League Baseball by signing a guaranteed 8 million dollar (approximately 11 billion won) contract with the St. Louis Cardinals in December 2019. Over two seasons, Kim recorded 35 games (145⅔ innings), 10 wins, 7 losses, 2 saves, and an earned run average of 2.97, and after finishing his two-year stint, he returned to Korea in March 2021 by signing a contract with SSG worth 15.1 billion won over four years.

With his four-year contract set to expire at the end of this year, Kim Kwang-hyun signed a two-year contract ahead of free agency, ensuring he will stay with SSG until the opening of Cheongna Dome, scheduled for 2028. With this contract, Kim ranks third in KBO League cumulative contract amounts with 27.2 billion won, following Choi Jeong (SSG, 30.2 billion won) and Yang Eui-ji (Doosan, 27.7 billion won), and first among pitchers.

"I never thought I would receive this much salary," Kim Kwang-hyun said with a laugh, adding, "Since the value of money will decrease in the future. Records are meant to be broken. I believe my juniors will receive higher salaries. Being able to receive so much money is partly due to my performance, but I think it is also thanks to my juniors, fans, and efforts for youth baseball. I also believe the team considered the contributions I made each year to the team, including donations and events."

Kim Kwang-hyun, who stated, "I had no desire to be evaluated in the free agent market at all," said, "Once I joined, I stayed with one team, and I had no thoughts of going to another team. Since returning from the U.S. to Korea, I have always had 200 wins in my mind. Adam Wainwright, who played with me in St. Louis, retired right after reaching 200 wins. Rather than the market's evaluation, I want to achieve 200 wins and receive evaluation again because I have been winning continuously with this team."

Compared to previous contracts, Kim Kwang-hyun signed a relatively small-scale contract, stating, "I think the team treated me well. While I have skills, I see this as a message to work for the future of the Landers. I understand that they are preparing many things to ensure a smooth transition to Cheongna. I believe they want me to help juniors become good players when we go to Cheongna. I will strive to help achieve good results, and I will work alongside the juniors to ensure they become key players when the time comes."

Kim Kwang-hyun remarked, "We have a lot of great players on our team. Currently, Kim Gun-woo and Jeon Young-jun are gaining experience as starting pitchers, and Park Si-hu is the team’s current most-winning pitcher. Lee Ro-un also has a very strong earned run average. All the players are coming up. Kim Tae-hyung, who completed his military service last year, is doing well, and Choi Min-jun is improving too." He added, "There is an age gap of 6-7 years between myself, (Noh) Kyung-eun, and (Moon) Seung-won. The younger players need to grow quickly into key players to lead the team. There are about two and a half years left until we head to Cheongna, so I hope the players grow a lot and become the ace of our team, and even lead Korean baseball in the national team."

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