AKS Fellows
Nabihah Begum is a graduate of George Washington University and is continuing her graduate studies at the Elliott School of International Affairs with a focus on security policy and history. Her interest in the Korean peninsula’s history and current affairs has been a leading interest in her studies on security policy in the Asian region. Nabihah is a former GWIKS Undergraduate Research Fellowship participant in which she focused on the national identity of South Korean youth through an economic lens. During her undergraduate career, she advanced her knowledge of campaign planning by working at various non-profit organizations in New York such as the Power of Two and the Woori Center. Additionally, she worked to improve research on security concerns for Kurdistani journalists at the Peace and Freedom Organization. Nabihah is eager to combine her interests in history, security policy, and data science in projects throughout her graduate career. She hopes that these interests and knowledge support her in her journey to becoming a research analyst on the aforementioned topics and future policy-maker.
Kaitlyn King is a second year MA student in the International Affairs program, concentrating in Asian Studies. She earned her BA in International Relations with a minor in East Asian Languages and Culture from the University of Southern California. She is currently a communications and research intern at the Korea Economic Institute. Through studying abroad at Yonsei University in South Korea during her undergraduate junior year, she furthered her understanding of the Korean language and international relations. Internships including working on the Hill and with the Council on Foreign Relations grew her interest in policy and research. Her academic journey and experiences as a person of mixed race led Kaitlyn to become invested in the progression of Korean Peninsula and Korea-Japan affairs, and she looks forward to working towards a career in academia and policy-making.
KDIS Fellows
Jennifer Ahn is a second year M.A. student at George Washington University’s Asian Studies program, focusing her academic career on the U.S.-South Korea alliance, South Korean foreign policy, and domestic South Korean politics. She also works as Research Associate for Korea Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. Her previous experiences include the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Korean Affairs as the South Korea intern, Council on Foreign Relations as the Korea Studies intern, and Eurasia Group as the South Korea intern. Jennifer holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and a minor in Korean Language and Literature from Boston University.
Isabelle Brito is a second-year MA student in the Asian Studies program at George Washington University specializing in conflict resolution and gender. She earned her BA in International Relations with a minor in Asian Studies from Florida International University. After studying abroad at Kyung Hee University in South Korea during her undergraduate junior year, her interest in South Korean domestic politics and history grew, resulting in her decision to focus on issues on the Korean Peninsula. As a Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellow, she has expanded her understanding of the Korean language and culture here at GW and the Summer Language Immersion program at Middlebury College. Moreover, as a Staff Writer at the GW International Affairs Review, she has found an arduous interest in policy research. She looks forward to working toward a career in academia and policy-making.
LB Fullerton is a second-year M.A. student in the Asian Studies program, concentrating on Korea and International Security Policy. She earned her B.A. in International Studies with an Asian Studies concentration at Auburn University. Currently, LB works as a library assistant at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art Freer and Sackler Library. LB’s previous internships include working as a researcher for the U.S. Military at the Military Advisor Training Academy, where she analysed security and economic issues in the Asia-Pacific. She is interested in all topics relating to North Korea, especially Sino-North Korean relations, regime stability, and how women are used in propaganda. After graduation, LB hopes to study abroad to strengthen her Korean language skills and apply for PhD programs in Asian Studies and history.
Haruka Satake is a second year MA student in the Elliott School’s Asian Studies program, concentrating in East Asian region. She is a Zainichi Korean 4th generation born and raised in Japan. Her interest is history in East Asia and security and politics in Asian pacific region. She is currently a Taiwan research fellowship participant in Taiwan Education and Research Program at the Sigur center for Asian Studies which she focuses on Taiwan and Korean comfort women and women rights in Asia. She had also worked in Asia policy point, an Asian research think tank in Washington DC, researching on Asian history, especially Japan and Korean wartime history, including comfort women and wartime forced labour.
Yerin Jun is a second-year MA student in the Asian Studies program, concentrating on International Businesses and Policies and Politics of Asia. She studied International Affairs at the University of Georgia. As a student born and raised in South Korea, she had an interest in the Korean peninsula, especially the relationship between South and North Korea. Her previous experience as a research assistant at the University of Georgia studying the East Asian countries’ histories of nuclear policies and non-proliferation further deepened my interest in East Asian countries’ political relationships. Her studies at George Washington University helped her to develop and pursue her career goal, being a person who can bridge Asian countries with other countries with her deep understanding of international affairs. She is currently a trade analyst intern at the Korean International Trade Association and looking forward to building up her career relevant to the Korean peninsula.
Hope Klingensmith is an Asian Studies MA student at George Washington University focusing on the Korean peninsula, soft power, and US-ROK relations. Her passion for East Asian international relations began after she received the US Department of State’s National Security Language Initiative for Youth’s Korean Academic Year scholarship and spent a year in Incheon, South Korea intensively studying Korean and learning about Korean culture from her peers at a local high school. Curious about the role of language and public diplomacy in international relations, Hope majored in linguistics and minored in international relations at the University of Florida. She held several State Department internships throughout college, including a Korean press internship for the Bureau of Global Public Affairs’ Foreign Press Center and a Korean section internship for the Foreign Service Institute’s School of Language Studies, before moving to DC to work as a contractor for the US Department of State. She is interested in researching both inter-Asian relations and US-Asian relations, particularly as it relates to the Korean peninsula and public diplomacy strategy. Hope currently works full-time as a contractor for the US Department of State as a Senior Program Officer for the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
Sohyeon Park is a first year student in the Elliott School’s Asian Studies program. She has an interest in the relations of countries in Asia Pacific region. She looks forward to studying how the United States makes strategies to maintain the influence in Asia and occupy the dominant position. She also is interested in how the free-nations’ alliance will be formed to check China’s raising power. Sohyeon has worked in Yeouido, the center of Korean politics, and wants to learn and practice her expertise in Washington DC, the center of world politics.
Sun Woo Park is a second year M.A. student at the Elliott School of International Affairs’ Asian Studies Program, specializing on Korean Studies and International Security Policy. He decided to seek his M.A. after interviewing former U.S. Ambassador to South Korea James T. Laney about his relationship with former South Korean President Kim Dae Jung for his history honors thesis, titled “Exiled East: Kim Dae Jung at Emory,” which was subsequently awarded summa cum laude by Emory University, where he majored in History and minored in Political Science. He is currently at the Department of Homeland Security and hopes to serve in the Foreign Service or Defense Department after graduating from the Elliott School. In his free time, he passionately plays Starcraft II, a national Korean pastime, in which he is ranked Diamond 1 and enjoys reading books.
Hye Jun Seo is a second year MA student at the Elliott School of International Affairs in Asian Studies program. She is currently a journalist at Radio Free Asia (RFA) focusing on the Korean Peninsula, particularly concentrating on North Korea’s nuclear threat and human rights issues. The diplomatic relationship between the United State and South Korea, and how the US-ROK alliance plays out in negotiations with North Korea have been her interests that lead to continuing her graduate studies at the Elliott School. Her previous experience as a news producer working with the Washington DC correspondents from South Korea’s leading broadcasting companies diversified her perspective of the foreign relations in Asia, and she will continue to invest in her interest further to contribute to policy-making in her future.
Aaron Whitchurch is an alumni of Florida State University with a BA in East Asian Languages and Culture and spent a year studying abroad in Shandong Province, PRC. After graduation, he served in the United States Marine Corps for five years as a Korean linguist, deploying to Korea and Japan on multiple occasions. Aaron has spent much of the last six years working as a contract linguist/translator for various government agencies and is currently serving in the United States Army Reserves as a Platoon Sergeant. He is recently married and live with his partner and their two dogs in Maryland. Aaron enjoys additional language study in his free time and regularly play the bagpipes with the City of Alexandria Pipes and Drums.
Riki Widodo is a first year M.A. student in George Washington University’s Asian Studies program, with an interest in conflict resolution and security in the East Asian and Southeast Asian regions, especially with recent aggressive actions by North Korea. He is also interested in how COVID-19 may potentially increase tensions in the powder keg that is East Asia. He was born and raised in the United States and studied Global Political Economy at Waseda University in Japan, and wishes to further knowledge at the center of global politics: Washington DC.
