Musolini, every "This move was exceedingly safe" ground special has pretty much been made SOME degree of "unsafe" now; Kyo's dashing grab, K' Minute spikes -> Slide, Leona's traditional Grand Saber, Terry's Burn Knuckle in the arcades, Maxima's EX Press... I agree it's a bit different for Kim, since he doesn't have as many other options, but he also has excellent air mobility, 2 aerial moves that can be EX'd for combos, a strong normal that he can link off of, and probably one of the best hop A's in the game.
My guess is that they wanted him to be less about defense / turtling up, and more about varied pressure, mixups, and punishing strongly off almost any hit he lands. Fireballers and zoners are suppose to lead by chip, but people with good mobility and fight options are suppose to lead by technical in-fighting and knowledge. I think they're trying to make Kim and Leona depend on this style of fighting more.
Most Kims I've seen fight, I don't even remember making HUGE use of HGZ pressure. They used it, but not consistently. It was much more about landing the low kicks into the stand, into the flying kick, into knockdowns of DMs. Since that's all basically been buffed on consoles, I think they made the right decision.