About Korea On Point by the Sejong Institute

Korea On Point by the Sejong Institute aims to provide an open forum for stimulating discourse on the most pressing issues of the Korean Peninsula. Each week, we invite experts from Korea and all around the world to submit their views on a timely prompt selected by our editorial board. The opinions expressed by our invited authors do not necessarily reflect or represent the official positions of Korea On Point by the Sejong Institute or the Sejong Institute. We do not intend to advocate particular views, beliefs, or political preferences; rather, we strive to publish balanced disquisitions on a diverse range of issues and lay bare key points of agreement and divergence among authorities. Ultimately, we aspire to extend this form of collective thinking to further discussions in policy communities and promote reconciliation and resolution in actuality.

Editor-in-Chief

WOO Jung-Yeop (on leave)

WOO Jung-Yeop is a research fellow at the Sejong Institute since 2017. He studied at Seoul National University and Georgetown University and received his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Before joining Sejong, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Korean Studies Institute at the University of Southern California and served as a research fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies from 2010 to 2017. While at Asan, he also served as director of its DC office from 2014 to 2016.

Editorial Board

Kuyoun Chung

Myong-Hyun Go

Dr. Kuyoun Chung is an assistant professor of Political Science at Kangwon National University. Previously, she was a lecturer at the Department of Political Science at UCLA (2011–2012), visiting professor at the Korea National Diplomatic Academy (2014–2015), and research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification (2015–2018). Currently, she serves on the Policy Advisory Committee of the Ministry of Unification, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and ROK Navy. Dr. Chung is also Executive Director of the International Policy Studies Institute Korea (IpsiKor) and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Maritime Security at the Korea Institute for Maritime Strategy. She received her Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 2011.

Dr. Myong-Hyun Go is a senior research fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul, Korea. He is also an adjunct professor at the Korea University School of Cybersecurity, an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, and a Munich Young Leader of the Munich Security Conference 2015. Dr. GO received his Ph.D. in Policy Analysis from the Pardee RAND Graduate School.

Jung Kim

Jungsup Kim

Jung Kim is an assistant professor of political science at the University of North Korean Studies (UNKS). Currently, he is also visiting professor at Yonsei University’s Graduate School of International Studies and Underwood International College, regional coordinator of the Asia Democracy Research Network, committee chair of the Unification and Security Research Unit of Korean Political Science Association, a research member at Social Science Korea Research, an editorial committee member of Asian Perspective and Tamkang Journal of International Affairs, and a member of the policy advisory committee of ROK’s Ministry of National Defense and Defense Intelligence Agency. Prior to joining UNKS, he was a senior research fellow at the East Asia Institute and the Institute for Far Eastern Studies of Kyungnam University, a visiting researcher at the University of Tokyo as a Fox International Fellow, research director of the Korean Political Science Association, and public relations director of the Korean Association of International Studies. He earned his undergraduate degree in Political Science from Korea University and graduated from Yale University with a doctoral degree in Political Science.
Before joining the Sejong Institute, Dr. Jungsup Kim served for 27 years as a civil servant at the Ministry of National Defense of the ROK government. During this time, he held directing positions for the defense budget, military organization, and international policy. In addition, he served as a staff member of the National Security Council in presidential office for 4 years. Most recently, Dr. Kim was Deputy Minister for Planning and Coordination at the Ministry of National Defense. He graduated from Seoul National University in 1993 and earned his Ph.D in International Relations from the University of Oxford in 2005.

Jaechun Kim

Bo Ram Kwon

Jaechun Kim is a professor of International Relations at the Graduate School of International Studies (GSIS) at Sogang University. He is currently a member of the advisory board for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Republic of Korea, the Dean of Sogang GSIS and served as the director of Sogang University’s Institute of International and Area Studies (IIAS). Before joining Sogang, he worked at Yale University as lecturer for the Department of Political Science and Yale Center for the International and Area Studies (YCIAS), a Fulbright visiting fellow to the Sigur Center for Asian Studies at George Washington University and a visiting scholar to Denver University. Earlier in his career, he was a member of the Government Performance Evaluation Committee, a member of Presidential Committee for Unification Preparation in ROK and legislative assistant for the National Assembly of ROK. He received his Ph.D in Political Science and MA in International Relations from Yale University.
Dr. Bo Ram Kwon is Associate Research Fellow at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses (KIDA) since 2013. Her areas of expertise include U.S. security and defense strategy, the ROK-US alliance, the nexus between U.S. foreign policy and domestic politics and economic sanctions. She was a visiting fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) of Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, adjunct professor at the Graduate School of Policy Studies at Korea University, member of the National Unification Advisory Council and member of the National Assembly Futures Institute Advisory Committee. Dr. Kwon holds her doctorate degree in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, M.A. in international relations from Korea University and B.A. in political science and business administration from Ewha Womans University.

YEON Wonho

YEON Wonho is a research fellow and chair of the Economic Security Task Force at the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP). His current research interests include U.S.-China trade conflict, US-China technological rivalry, and economic security. He participated in policy consultation with the U.S. government as a member of the seven-member delegation of the president-elect Yoon Suk-yeol to the U.S. He received his Ph.D. in Economics from Stony Brook University, M.A. in International Relations with a concentration in Korea and Japan Studies from UC San Diego’s School of Global Policy and Strategy, and B.A.in East Asian History from Yonsei University.

STAFF

Associate Editor

Sungwon Lee

Dr. Sungwon Lee is a research fellow at the Sejong Institute. Previously, Dr. Lee served as a research associate at the Center for Foreign Policy and National Security at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Korea (2013-2016). Dr. Lee received his M.A. in International Relations from King’s College London (U.K.) and his Ph.D. in Politics, Languages and International Studies from the University of Bath (U.K.).

Editorial Assistants

  • Yoona Cho

    Yonsei University, Underwood International College

  • Yoonsea Kang

    Seoul National University, Graduate School of International Studies

  • DoHee Kim

    Seoul National University, Doctoral Program in Department of Economics

  • Yujin Ko

    Seoul National University, Graduate School of International Studies

Interns

  • Jaiyoung Lee

    Korea International School

  • Jinyoung Lee

    Korea International School

  • Davis Kil

    Seoul Foreign School

Contact Us

Korea on Point aspires to raise awareness on vital issues involving the Korean Peninsula and encourage candid, inclusive discussions. We welcome our readers to comment on or respond to our articles via koreaonpoint@sejong.org. To be considered for republication, responses must be in English, at least 500 words in length, and deemed to be of merit by our editor-in-chief and editorial staff.

About the Sejong Institute

The Sejong Institute is a non-profit, bipartisan policy think tank dedicated to developing strategies and policies in areas of foreign and security affairs in Northeast Asia, Korean unification, and international political economy. Established in 1983, the Sejong Institute works in collaboration with international specialists and institutions and holds various academic conferences and forums to provide ideas and strategies for achieving peace and prosperity in Northeast Asia and beyond. More information can be found here: https://www.sejong.org/eng/main/