Kim and Iran’s Morteza Rezaeian lifted the same total — 324 kilograms — but Kim took the gold because of his lower body weight. Kim weighs 68.22 kilograms and Rezaeian 68.53, a difference of 310 grams.
Indonesia’s Triyatno took bronze with a total lift of 321 kilograms.
Kim, who finished sixth at the world championships in Antalya, Turkey, trailed Rezaeian by four kilograms after the snatch section on Monday, lifting 143 kilograms.
The North Korean needed to lift 181 kilograms to match his Iranian rival in clean and jerk, and he did in style to win gold on lesser body weight.
“I was quite sad after the last world championships so I worked much harder,” Kim said.
Kim had expected Triyatno to give him tough fight after the Indonesian finished one step ahead of him at Antalya by lifting a combined weight of 324.
“I had expected the Indonesian athlete (Triyatno) to be my main rival because my total was not good (321) enough to win over him,” Kim said.
The North Korean victory broke China’s domination in the weightlifting event — the hosts had clinched all four golds on the first two days of the competition.