Seung Wook Kim
December 16, 2024 – December 15, 2025
Seung Wook Kim has been a reporter at Yonhap News, South Korea’s leading global news agency, since 2008. He has worked in the social, political, and economic departments for the past 16 years, striving to deliver fact-based articles to readers. He also produced exciting sports news while covering the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics and the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics on-site. Before coming to the GWIKS as a visiting scholar in December 2024, he led junior reporters as the head of the police team.
He plans to study AI utilization methods to reduce industrial accidents in Korea. While working as a reporter, he learned that countless accidents occur in industrial sites, causing precious lives to be lost. Most accidents can be prevented with just a little bit of caution. He believes that AI, which is a global topic, can greatly contribute to reducing industrial accidents. Based on the research results, he hopes to raise safety awareness in the Korean industrial sector and help save the precious lives of workers.
Soo Hyang Kim
May 15, 2025 – December 13, 2025
Soohyang Kim is a Research Fellow at the National Institute of Korean History (NIKH). She holds a Ph.D. in History from Seoul National University, where her research focused on food and population policy in modern Korea.
Her current project, A Research on Korean Contemporary Historical Materials in the U.S., involves investigating records related to South Korea–U.S. relations and U.S. East Asian policy at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). While the NIKH has already collected a substantial amount of historical materials from NARA, her project aims to explore additional record groups and newly released documents that require further investigation.
Hye Kyung Hwang
August 1, 2025 – July 31, 2026
Hye Kyung Hwang is a journalist at YTN, Korea’s first 24-hour news channel. Over the past twenty years, she has worked in the political, economic, and social affairs departments, with an extended focus on covering the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Unification. In particular, Hye Kyung was responsible for reporting on the Ministry of Unification in 2018, when a series of historic inter-Korean and North Korea-U.S. summits took place, which enabled her to closely observe the dynamic changes unfolding around the Korean Peninsula. Her longstanding interest in North Korea and unification issues led her to pursue graduate studies at the University of North Korean Studies, the premier institution for North Korean research in Korea. Hye Kyung completed all coursework and is currently preparing her doctoral dissertation. As a visiting scholar at GWIKS, Hye Kyung is examining the determinants of North Korea policy-making in the second Trump administration.
Hyun-bin Kim
August 15, 2025 – June 14, 2026
Kim Hyun-bin is a journalist at HANKOOK-ILBO, which is a major South Korean daily newspaper that covers a wide range of topics including politics, society, culture, and international affairs. It was founded in 1954 and is one of the country’s most influential media outlets.
He has covered in politics, society. focused his reporting on the political and social departments during his 16-year career as a reporter. He spent most of his career covering political parties and the Blue House or President’s Office.
Over the past three years, he has made multiple reporting trips to Washington, D.C., covering summits between South Korean and U.S. presidents. He covered the South Korea–U.S. summit held in April 2023, as well as the historic trilateral summit between South Korea, the United States, and Japan at Camp David in August of the same year.
Through those experiences, he gained a deep appreciation for the city’s pivotal role in global decision-making and its symbolic value as the heart of American democracy. Motivated by those impressions, he is spending his fellowship year in Washington, D.C., as a visiting scholar at GW’s Institute for Korean Studies. His current research explores the evolving dynamics of the U.S.–ROK alliance amid strategic competition with China and North Korea, with a focus on the potential implications of a second Trump administration.
Christine Kim
August 28, 2025 – February 28, 2026
Christine Kyu Yeong Kim is a PhD candidate in International Studies at Seoul National University, where she examines the intersections of foreign aid, political development, and democracy. She received her MA in International Studies from Seoul National University and her BS in Applied Psychology from New York University.
Her ongoing dissertation project investigates how U.S. foreign aid during the Cold War—particularly USAID programs implemented after 1961—impacted political development and democratic governance in South Korea. Her research sheds light on the early history of U.S. ‘democracy aid’ and its long-term consequences for political development and state-society relations in Asia. While at GWIKS, she is conducting archival research at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in College Park for this project.
Her research is supported by the Seoul National University Kyujanggak Institute of Korean Studies and the Korean National Research Foundation’s BK21 FOUR program.
Jae Yoon Jung
July 1, 2025 – July 1, 2026
Jae Yoon Jung is a journalist at JTBC, one of the largest broadcasting stations in Korea. She has been a journalist since 2008, covered in various fields including politics, society, governmenty, investigative journalism, international news, etc. Especially, after covering the Blue House in S. Korea, focused on reporting on the activities and policies of the South Korean President and administration in 2017, she has frequently covered beats on foreign relations, started with significant talks including S.Korea-N.Korea, U.S.-N.Korea, U.S.-S.Korea-N.Korea in 2018 and 2019. She covered not only the 2018 Singapore Summit between U.S. and N.Korea, but also the 2019 Hanoi Summit between U.S. and N.Korea, and she served as an anchor of JTBC’s special news program during the Singapore summit. She majored in Journalism during her undergraduate studies at NYU in the U.S. She also earned a master’s degree in North Korea’s nuclear security at the University of North Korean studies in S. Korea with her thesis on the topic of “A Study on North Korea’s Nuclear Weapons Propaganda under Kim Jong-un’s regime”(2025). She plans to study on ‘S. Korea’s role in power game during New Cold War era’. The study would focus on the role of S. Korea during so-called ‘new cold war era’ when the conflict composition like ROK-U.S.-Japan vs. DPRK-China-Russia occurs. The situation is getting worse amid close ties of DPRK and Russia. ROK, rock solid alliance with the U.S., is a key player in handling DPRK’s nuclear crisis in the Korean peninsula. With the global landscape changing, ROK’s role could be reemphasized and the study should focus on finding the role.
Juri Kang
Feb 07, 2025 – Feb 06, 2026
Juri Kang has been a journalist at Seoul Shinmun Daily, the longest-running major newspaper in South Korea, founded in 1904, since 2006. She is an experienced journalist with extensive knowledge of Korean politics, society, government, business, economy, and online news. With 18 years of experience, she has covered a wide range of beats, from political parties in the National Assembly to government agencies and conglomerates. Immediately before joining GWIKS as a visiting scholar, She covered the martial law incidents and disasters in Korea while reporting on social ministries such as Ministry of the Interior & Safety, Ministry of Personnel Management, and National Fire Agency at the Government Complex Sejong.
She has received numerous awards, including Newspaper Planning Award of the Year (2023) from the Korea Advertising Association (KAA) for “Visa System Series That Hampers Industrial Sites” and Commendation Award from the commissioner of the National Fire Agency (2024).
She majored in journalism during her undergraduate studies and earned a master’s degree in Journalism & New media at the Yonsei University’s Graduate School of Journalism, Media & Mass Communication. She wrote her thesis on the topic of “Digital Innovation Resistance Factors of News Production Process of Newspaper Journalist”(2020).
She plans to study how digital journalism was implemented during the U.S. presidential election, a time when deep fakes and fake news were rampant. Amid the crisis in the newspaper industry, she will examine the efforts and challenges faced by major U.S. media journalists in digital innovation. She believes that this study will make a significant contribution to fulfilling news consumers’ right to know, ensuring the sustainability of the press, and advancing democracy in both South Korea and the U.S.
Heechang Park
August 4, 2025 – June 3, 2025
Heechang Park is a journalist at the Dong-A Ilbo, one of the most influential newspapers
in South Korea since its founding in 1920. He joined the newspaper in 2009 and has
mainly covered economic and financial issues, reporting on key government ministries
such as the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and
Energy, as well as the Bank of Korea. Over his career, he has written in-depth articles on
Korea’s fiscal and monetary policy, taxation, global trade trends, and financial markets.
He has also been recognized with several journalism awards, including the Korea
Newspaper Award in 2015.
Park holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Economics from Seoul
National University and an Executive MBA from Aalto University in Finland. Building on
his reporting background, he has developed a strong interest in the policy implications of
economic change, particularly how fiscal sustainability, demographic shifts, and global
trade tensions shape Korea’s long-term economic trajectory. In his role as an editor and
journalist, he has contributed to shaping public debate on critical issues such as national
debt, demographic challenges, taxation, and trade disputes.
At the George Washington University Institute for Korean Studies, Park is conducting
research on “Trumponomics 2.0” and its impact on Korea–U.S. economic cooperation.
His project examines how universal tariffs and other protectionist measures affect
Korea’s export industries and evaluates the effectiveness of the Korea–U.S. Free Trade
Agreement under intensified protectionism. This research seeks to analyze these
developments to better understand how protectionist trade policies shape bilateral
economic relations.
Taerim Lee
April 7, 2025 – April 6, 2026
Taerim Lee is currently a Visiting Scholar at the Institute for Korean Studies at George
Washington University.
She previously served as a professor in the Department of European and American Studies at
the Korea National Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic
of Korea. From 2017 to 2019, she was Policy Planning Director at the Presidential Committee on Northern Economic Cooperation.
From 2014 to 2017, Dr. Lee worked as a senior lawyer at Shin & Kim, one of the largest law
firms in Korea. She began her legal career in 2005 at Alexander Dobrovinsky and Partners
and later joined the Moscow office of KPMG International, where she advanced from
manager to director between 2006 and 2012.
Dr. Lee earned a B.A. and M.A. in Russian Language and Literature from Moscow State
University in 1988. She obtained a second master’s degree in law in 2004 from the Moscow
State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), where she also received her Ph.D. for a
dissertation on international law issues related to the transit of Russian gas through North
Korea to the Republic of Korea.
Her recent publications focus on the war in Ukraine, Russia–China relations, U.S.–Russia
relations, and the recent development of Russia-North Korea relations.
Sooyun Song
September 01, 2025 – July 31, 2026
Sooyun Song is a Korean journalist who spent fifteen years working for The Seoul shinmun daily, which was founded in 1904 and is Korea’s oldest continuously published daily newspaper.
During her tenure there, she has worked in several departments — including legal affairs, economics, and politics. While part of a special investigative unit, she led major investigative projects that earned her multiple awards: she won the Korea Newspaper Award in 2016 and 2021, as well as honors such as “Journalist of the Month” and the Kwanhun Press Award.
She has a particular interest in the U.S. prosecutorial system. Just prior to coming to George Washington University as a visiting scholar, she served as lead reporter of a team covering the Prosecutor General’s Office and related institutions.
In recent years, prosecutorial reform has become one of the biggest issues in Korea. She intends to compare the U.S. and Korean prosecutorial systems, examine measures the U.S. is taking to strengthen prosecutorial fairness, and explore what challenges both countries still face—recognizing that no system is perfect.
Seongwon Jung
August 15, 2025 – August 14, 2026
He completed the Judicial Research and Training Institute in 2011 and has served as a
public prosecutor in the Republic of Korea since 2014. Throughout his prosecutorial career,
he has been appointed to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, the Daegu District
Prosecutors’ Office, and other major offices. In these roles, he has undertaken the
investigation and prosecution of high-profile cases, including election law violations,
corruption offenses, semiconductor technology leakage, and stock market manipulation.
In addition to his prosecutorial duties, he is currently pursuing academic research on the
system of elected prosecutors in the United States, with a particular focus on its
implications for comparative legal studies and potential relevance to prosecutorial reform
in Korea.
Dojin Kim
August 1st, 2025 – July 31st, 2026
Dojin Kim is a mid-career local government practitioner specializing in public administration. He has served with the Daegu Metropolitan City Government, one of South Korea’s major cities, for 12 years.
Throughout his career, he has gained broad experience across key departments, including citizen services, public communication, human resources, policy planning, and innovation support. In recognition of his contributions, he was selected as one of Daegu’s Outstanding Public Officials in 2022.
At GWIKS, his research explores “How Local Cities Can Gain Appeal in the New Era.” His study examines how regional cities can remain vibrant and sustainable amid population decline and the increasing concentration of resources in metropolitan areas.
Based in Washington, D.C., he is engaging with leading experts and studying diverse urban cases to gain insights into sustainable local development.
