There had been complaints from developing countries that their citizens should have a chance to run the bank. Two other nominees sought the job — Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and a former Colombian finance minister, Jose Antonio Ocampo.
The five-year term of the current president, Robert B. Zoellick, expires at the end of June. The 187-member institution focuses on development loans and fighting poverty.
Kim, 52, was previously a director of the World Health Organization's department of HIV/AIDS, and is a co-founder of Partners in Health, a Boston nonprofit that works with impoverished communities in developing countries to provide medical care and social services.
Kim's family moved to the U.S. from South Korea when he was 5. He grew up in Muscatine, Iowa, graduated from Brown University and received his medical degree from Harvard. He will begin his five-year term as president of the World Bank in July.