The KID has not suddenly become strategically risky, it has always been so.
The appeal of the KID is that the rewards often justify the strategical risk. As I said before the KID is not for everyone, it is not a half hearted defence.
In the KID Black is playing to take over the initiative from White and dictate the course of play. In this vein White will often decimate Black's entire Queenside only to get embarrasingly mated on the other side of the board. The saying what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul always comes to mind when I win the type of game I just described.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with defences such as the Caro and the like, but lets be honest, most of the games won by black in the Caro stems from White over reaching. In the KID however, black is out for blood, and in the past 10 years most of White's novelties revolve around the theme of not getting mated. Look up the game Peter Hein Nielsen - Vassilios Kotronias for a typical KID encounter in the Classical variation.
Smyslov_Fan's comment regarding KID endgames is just a Myth. There are many typical KID endgames that favor Black in many different lines of the Opening, one only needs to understand what to avoid and what to aim for. For example:
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 0-0 6.Nf3 e5 7.dxe5 dxe5 8.Qxd8 Rxd8 actually favors Black strategically, as he has a permanent outpost on d4 while White does not have one on d5.
Also in a topical line of the c5 Samisch it has been more or less established that if anything the endgames favor black, which in fact is the reason that the Samisch is not as popular as it once was, and those that still play it rarely bother with Be3 anymore.
1.d4 g6 2.c4 Bg7 3.e4 d6 4.Nc3 Nf6 5.f3 0-0 6.Be3 c5!
One other thing Smyslov_Fan, the KID is a Universal Opening System against Queenside Flank Openings, the Slav is not. I am sorry you do not appreciate the term Universal. Of course, as you rightly point out, there are also other Universal Opening Systems such as the Dutch, but this is a thread about the KID which is certainly not a second class Opening, and it still scores quite well in the right hands. I for one have no trouble at all scoring with it in tournament play.
Lastly Smyslov_Fan you should know that your namesake Vassily Smyslov was himself an ardent Kings Indian_Fan who won some Classic games with it against the then strongest player of the day Mikhail Botvinnik. In fact the KID has been a major weapon of the game's greatest players and World Champions for the past three decades.
To Inn2 the line 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. b4 does not avoid the KID at all, as black simply continues as normal and plays for either the e5 break or c5 break or both!!. Here is a trypical example of how black should play:
[Event "WICC qual Dubai 25'+10"]
[Site "FIDE.com"]
[Date "2002.03.01"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Juegel,Marcel"]
[Black "Isaev,Jamshed"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Eco "E60"]
1.e3 g6 2.Nf3 Bg7 3.d4 d6 4.c4 Nf6 5.b4 e5 6.Bb2 0-0 7.Be2 exd4 8.Nxd4 c5 9.Nb5 Nc6 10.bxc5 dxc5 11.0-0 Be6 12.Nd2 Qe7 13.Qb3 a6 14.Nc3 b5 15.Bf3 bxc4 16.Qa4 Rab8 17.Rab1 Ne5 18.Be2 Nd3 19.Ba1 Qd7 20.Qxa6 Nb4 21.Qa4 Qxd2 22.Rfd1 Qc2 23.Rxb4 Qxd1+ 24.Nxd1 cxb4 25.Bd4 c3 26.Bd3 Rfc8 27.Bc2 Nd5 28.Bxg7 Kxg7 29.e4 Ra8 30.Qb5 Rcb8 31.Qc6 Nf6 32.e5 Nd7 33.Bb1 Rc8 34.Qb7 Rab8 35.Qa7 c2 36.Bxc2 Rxc2 37.f3 Rxa2 0-1
To Inn2 again, the statement that Black suffers from a lack of space is not entirely true. In many lines White has more space on the Queenside yes, but Black often has more on the Kingside to counter balance this and that is why he usually conducts his attack there. It is useful to understand that in blocked positions the direction of the opposing pawn chains often indicate on which side of the board you should conduct your attack.
I would also like to remind Inn2 that it also possible for black to win with the Petroff or any defence for that matter, but in a must win situation I doubt someone would employ it, the same goes for the Caro. The ability and need to win with either color is one of the reasons why Karpov's tournament results started to slide around the same time that Kasparov's started to shine, and Karpov's era of draw with Black and win with White became no longer good enough to win tournaments.
White has no quiet way to a stable advantage against the KID that I know of. If you want to trouble KID players you have to burn some midnight oil just as black does, any half measures will bring White equality at best and disaster at worse. Before I forget, Petrosian did trouble KID players in his day with the system that now bears his name, but today this system is no longer a threat.
Quite frankly I do not think that there is any system, mainline or otherwise that gives Whie a clear advantage against the KID only an unclear game, and true KID players will be satisfied with this kind of position anyway.
If you want a quiet life best not play the KID, the QGD would be more appropriate.
To Alias, its nice to have a kindred Spirit on board.
To the rest, by all means continue to underrate and underestimate the KID, but at your own peril.
Toppy