Nakyon Lee
June 15, 2022 – June 14, 2023
Nakyon Lee is a former prime minister of the Republic of Korea, who served under the Moon Jae-in administration. He graduated from Seoul National University with a degree in law and became a journalist at Dong-a Ilbo. After 21 years as a journalist, he entered politics and served five terms as a member of the National Assembly. During his fourth term in 2014, he became the governor of Jeollanam-do Province until President Moon nominated Lee as his first prime minister in 2017. He was also elected as the chairperson of the Democratic Party of Korea in 2020.
During his years in public affairs, he has focused on both internal and international affairs of South Korea. As prime minister, he was responsible for overall domestic issues, including the safety of the citizens and society. He was a member of the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, in which he worked towards a peaceful inter-Korean relationship. Based on his knowledge and rich experience, his research at GWIKS will focus on the peacebuilding process in the Korean Peninsula.
Yeonsook Kim
September 1, 2022 – August 31, 2023
Yeonsook Kim has been a reporter since she joined Yonhap News Agency, Korea’s leading news agency, in 2010. She studied psychology and journalism at Korea University. She has written articles on a variety of issues such as International news, foreign affairs and military issues, business and economics, national and local news. Until recently she has covered global issues including the Ukraine war, gender and racial conflict, human rights, international relations.
She has been interested in how Korean journalism has reported various DEI(diversity, equity and inclusion) issues, and how journalism seeks to maintain objectivity as well as explore global contexts and international trends. She will furthermore analyze how South Korean journalism has framed these issues, not only focusing on gender discrimination but also on how to analyze and interpret the sharp escalation in hate speech and exclusion toward social minorities.
Yumi Lee
August 15, 2022 – August 14, 2023
Yumi Lee is a journalist at Yonhap News Agency, Korea’s leading news agency. She graduated from Seoul National University and obtained her bachelor’s degree in English literature.
Since she joined Yonhap News Agency in 2008, she has covered various areas such as politics, business, and global issues. She recently covered the National Assembly and the current ruling party (PPP, People Power Party). In particular, she wrote articles about the 2022 presidential election and the presidential transition committee this year. Her research will focus on the report trends of presidential election pledges by Korea-U.S. media and its impact on voter’s choices. She will look into how to introduce difficult and complex pledges in an easy-to-understand manner and how to narrow the distance between politicians’ pledges and voters as much as possible.
Semi Park
August 1, 2022 – August 1, 2023
Semi Park is a newspaper reporter in Chosun Ilbo which is the largest and the most subscribed newspaper in South Korea. I’ve worked in Chosun Daily from 2007. She majored in Anthropology and minored in Mass Communication at Seoul National University. After graduation, she joined Chosun Daily and covered various sectors – such as social issues, mass media, entertainment, design and public policy. Semi mainly covered education policy for 7 years and recently have written about health/welfare policy. During the pandemic, she covered the issues related to COVID-19 in my company. For the visiting scholar program, she is interested in public policy for recovery after the pandemic, especially in the education and welfare sector. She will be researching how it works in the US and Korea and find out the difference.
Mingi Chae
January 10 2022 – January 10, 2023
Mingi Chae is a staff writer at the Chosun Ilbo Daily, the most circulated daily newspaper in South Korea. He majored in sociology at Seoul National University and joined the Chosun Ilbo in 2008. As a journalist he has focused on coverage of cultural areas, especially architecture and design.
He chose Washington D.C. as the place for his work as a visiting scholar because it’s a city that embeds both modern and traditional architecture. He is currently analyzing the establishment of the U.S. National Building Museum (NBM) – the museum’s collection, recent exhibition strategies, and how educational programs are operated. Through this research he hopes to find some suggestions that can be pursued by the Korean National Museum of Urbanism and Architecture (KMUA) which is due to open in 2025.
In Kyung Jung
September 10, 2022 – March 10, 2023
In Kyung Jung is a Constitutional Rapporteur Judge at the Constitutional Court of Korea. She passed the Korean Bar exam in 2003, after receiving her Bachelor of Law degree in Korea. She received an LL.M. from the George Washington University School of Law in 2016 and also received an S.J.D, with a concentration in the Constitution, from the Ewha Womans University School of Law.
She has served in the Constitutional Court since 2008 and has dealt with various constitutional cases such as impeachment of the president, impeachment of judges, cancellation of trials, and unconstitutionality of laws.
She is interested in studying egalitarianism. Her recent research was on the meaning of equality in education according to the Korean Constitution. She also studies the conflict between democracy and constitutionalism. Based on her studies and experience, her research at GWIKS will focus on a comparative study on how liberalism and republicanism can be balanced and harmonized for democracy.
Heung-Kyu Kim
September 1, 2022 – December 31, 2022
Heung-Kyu Kim is the founder and Director of the U.S.-China Policy Institute and professor in the Department of Political Science at Ajou University. He also served as a professor at the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security in South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. His current assignments include Policy Advisory Board Member for the Ministry of National Defense and ROK Army and Chairman of the Foreign Ministry’s Reform Commission. He also served as Director of Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Presidential Commission on Policy Planning, Team Leader of Security and Defense in the Presidential Task Force of Future Vision 2045, a board member of the National Security Council and a board member of National Defense Reform Commission. Dr. Kim’s publications include China and the U.S.-ROK Alliance: Promoting a Trilateral Dialogue (CFR, 2017), Enemy, Homager or Equal Partner?: Evolving Korea-China Relations (2012), and From a Buffer Zone to a Strategic Burden: Evolving Sino-North Korea Relations during Hu Jintao Era (2010). His book China’s Central-Local Relations and Decision-Making received an award for Excellency of the Year by the Ministry of Culture in 2008. He also received the NEAR Foundation Academic prize of the year in the area of foreign policy and security in 2014. Kim received his BA and MA in international relations from Seoul National University and Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Michigan.
Hyoyong Lee
March 1, 2022 – February 28, 2023
Hyoyong Lee is a journalist working for Korean Broadcasting System, a leading broadcasting company in Korea. As a journalist, she has covered various fields such as social issues, law, education, and international issues. In particular, she has focused on North Korea issues, inter-Korean relations, South Korea-U.S. relations as well as various diplomatic and security issues for many years. Based on this experience, she has participated in research and policy advice of various national research institutes in Korea. She would like to share her experience as a journalist and will be conducting research on diplomatic issues she has covered, especially diplomatic issues in relation to the ROK-U.S. and North Korea-U.S. relations.
Taekyung Yeo
September 1, 2022 – August 31, 2023
Taekyung Yeo works as a reporter for News1, an independent news agency. She majored in law during university and has covered law and society, culture, and politics at News1. Until recently, she was the director of the law and society division. Her research project is about the admissibility of digital evidence and privacy. She will look into the growing importance of digital evidence in recent investigations and trials and the resulting privacy concerns of individuals.
