K WON | 1
Soyoung Kwon B.A. M.A. MPhil. Ph.D.
Address: #572 George Mason University Korea 119-4 Songdomunhwa-ro, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, Korea 21985 Tel: +82 (0)32 626 5102 Mobile: +82 (0)10 6689 1997 E-mail: [email protected]
Date of Birth: 20 September 1972 Marital Status: Married Nationality: Korean Gender: Female
EDUCATION
Oct. 1999 - July 2003 University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England Ph.D., Faculty of Social and Political Sciences Thesis title: An Elite Analysis of the Disintegration and Survival of State Socialism: the North Korean Political Elite in Comparative Perspective
Oct. 1998 - July 1999 University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England M.Phil, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, First on thesis/ High 2.1 on the course work Thesis title: Market Socialism Assessed: the cases of Hungary and Yugoslavia
Sep. 1996 - June 1997 Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden M.A., Department of Political Science, Pass with Distinction Thesis title: Social Democratic Political Economy: An Analysis of Economic Management in Sweden and Norway, 1945-1965
Sep. 1993 – June 1994 University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada Department of Political Science, Student Exchange Program
Mar. 1991 – Aug. 1995 Ewha Women’s University, Seoul, Korea B.A. in Political Science and Diplomacy
K WON | 2
EMPLOYMENT
1) Professional Experience
Jan. 2019 – Present Director, Center for Security Policy Studies – Korea, Schar School of Policy and Government, George Mason University, Incheon, Korea
- Oversee the operation of the Center (program planning, budget, annual reporting) - Organize the CSPS-K Spring Symposium and special lecture events - Liaison Coordination with CSPS Arlington - Networking to seek funding and grant opportunities - Mentor undergraduate student fellows and assist learning & research
Mar. 2016-Present Assistant Professor of Global Affairs, George Mason University Korea, Incheon Songdo, Korea
Lectures: Introduction to Global Affairs Introduction to Comparative Politics International Security International Relations Theory Diplomacy / Politics of Asia
- Teaching and Research - Service and promotion of the Global Affairs program and Mason Korea - Directing the Center for Security Policy Studies – Korea
Jun.2015 – Present Research Fellow, Yonsei Institute for Unification Studies, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea
- Lectured on North Korean Power Structure and Elites - Participation in research projects, and conferences - Policy brief, expert advisory role, media activities - Journal reviewer for “North Korean Unification Studies” and “North Korea Review”
Jan. 2013 – May 2016 Executive Board Member, International Sports Relations (iSR) Foundation
Overall management of non-profit organization for promoting international sports relations and sports diplomacy
May 2012 – May 2016 Director, iSR Institute, Seoul, Korea (formerly known as the Institute of Sport & Relations)
Management of a think tank for policy analysis, consulting, lectures, publications, and research in the field of international sports and sports diplomacy
K WON | 3
Sep. 2013- Jun. 2015 Lecturing Professor, Carter School of International Studies, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju, Korea
Lectures: International Relations and the Korean Peninsula Foreign Policy Analysis International Development Social Research Design and Methods Understanding Politics
Aug. 2008 – Dec.2013 Adjunct Professor, Graduate School of Pan-Pacific International Studies, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Korea
Lectures: Changing World Order and the Korean Peninsula Seminars on Inter-Korea Relations and East Asia East Asia Security and Regional Cooperation
Aug. 2007 – Feb. 2010 Special Advisor to World Taekwondo Federation President for International Affairs, World Taekwondo Headquarters, Seoul, Korea.
Advise and assist the President for international affairs including International Olympic Committee (IOC) relations, Sport Diplomacy, Olympics, Taekwondo Peace Corp project, UN-IOC sport and peace initiative, and promotion of Taekwondo as an Olympic sport.
Jan. 2007 – Aug. 2007 Director, International Cooperation Team, GCS International (NGO with Special Consultative Status to the ECOSO of the United Nations), Seoul, Korea.
In charge of member states relations, Communication and Public Relations, UN and NGOs relations, GCS global projects
Aug.2005 – Dec.2006 Special Advisor to Glyn Ford MEP on Korea-related issues, European Parliament, Brussels, Belgium.
Sep. 2004 – Aug.2005 Shorenstein Fellow, Asia Pacific Research Center (APARC), Stanford University, Stanford, U.S.A.
Oct. 2003 – July 2004 Research Associate Fellow, East Asia Institute, Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Cambridge, England.
Oct. 2003 – Feb.2004 Liaison for foreign correspondents, Public Information Office, Ministry of Unification, Seoul, Korea.
Oct. 1995 - July 1996 Research Assistant, Foreign Policy Research Center, Seoul, Korea.
K WON | 4
2) Organizational Experience
• Conference Organization: “The Legacy of State Socialism and the Future of Transformation”, The Gorbachev Foundation (USA), March 2000. • Conference organization assistant and Interpreter: “Korea as a 21st Century Power” University of Cambridge, 20 April, 2002. • Stanford-Cornell workshop organization: “Understanding North Korea”, Asia Pacific Research Center, Stanford University, 11 April, 2005. • European Institute of Asian Studies and European Parliament co-sponsored Seminar: “Governance in Asia”, 21 February 2006. • 2013 iSR Forum “Sports Relations in East Asia,” National Assembly, Seoul, Korea, June 22, 2013. • 2014 iSR Forum “Olympic Movement in Asia,” Hanhwa 63 Bldg, Seoul, Korea, Sept. 22 2014. • 2015 iSR Forum “The Transition into Life after Sporting Competitions,” Geyongwonru, Incheon Songdo, Korea, Sept. 4, 2015. • Symposium on International Security “Issues and Concerns in International Security: Asia and Beyond”, George Mason University Korea, Songdo, Korea, 27 May, 2018. • Symposium on International Security “Environmental Challenges & Solutions”, George Mason University Korea, Songdo, Korea, 22 May, 2019. • Symposium on International Security “Human Security in the Gray Zone: North Korean defectors and their children”, Incheon Global Campus, Songdo, Korea, 26 May, 2021.
AFFILIATIONS
· Member of the Peace City Promotion Committee, Inchon Metropolitan City under the Mayor of Incheon City (2021-2022) · Member of the Advisor Board to the Sports ODA Education Program of the Korea Sports Promotion Foundation (KSPO) · Member of the Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS) · Member of the Korea Association of International Development and Cooperation (KAIDAC) · Member of the Korean Association of International Studies (KAIS) · Member of the Korean Association of Political Science (KAPS) · Convener of the Peace and Sport Commission, International Peace Research Association · Member of the Oxbridge Society and Cambridge Alumni Association · Fellow of the Cambridge Overseas Society K WON | 5
SCHOLARSHIPS AND AWARDS (HONOURS)
· Post-doctoral Fellowship, Asia Pacific Research Center, Stanford University, 2004-2005 · Cambridge Overseas Trust Bursary, 1998-2002 · Research Awards of the Board of Graduate Studies, 2001-2002 · British Chevening Scholarship of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. 1999-2002 · Graduate Education Committee Research Grant, University of Cambridge. 2000 · Ewha full scholarship for the exchange student program, 1993-1994
PUBLICATIONS
l “Changes in the Structure and Nature of the Top Party Leadership under State Socialism,” BASEES conference papers, April 6, 2002. l “State Building in North Korea: from a ‘self-reliant’ to ‘military-first’ State,” Asian Affairs, Vol. XXXIV, no. 3, November 2003. l “Change in the Composition and Structure of the North Korean Political Elite,” International Journal of Korean Unification Studies, Vol. 12, no.2, Dec 2003. l “Change in North Korea, reflected in Rodong Sinmun editorials 1980-2002,” British Association of Korean Studies journal, vol. 9, 2004 and British Museum Occasional Paper, no. 106, 2004. l “Foggy North Korean Shuffle,” The Japan Times, January 27, 2005. l “Reading North Korean Ruins,” Nautilus Institute Policy Forum (http: www.nautilus.org/for a/security/0518_Ford_Kwon.html), February 24, 2005. l “Pyongyang under EU’s wing,” The Japan Times, March 17, 2005. l “The EU stretches its Foreign Policy Wings Over Korea,” Nautilus Institute Policy Forum (http:www.nautilus.org/for a/security/0531Adiscussion.html), April 12, 2005. l “Rethinking the 386 Generation’s Approach to North Korea” The Asia Pacific Research Center Dispatches, Stanford University, May 2005. l "Survival of the North Korean Regime and Changing Legitimation Modes," The Mario Einudi Center for International Studies Working Paper Series 07-2005, Cornell University, 2005 l “The World of North Korean Comics,” with Glyn Ford, European Institute of Asian Studies Bulletin, Vol.10, no.5&6, May/June 2006. l "Picturing North Korean propaganda," with Glyn Ford, The Japan Times, 27 August 2006 K WON | 6
l “EU’s Critical Engagement Course towards North Korea,” with Glyn Ford, Journal of National Unification, vol.22, RINU, Yeongnam University, 2006. l “Continuity and Change in the North Korean System," in David Lane (ed.) Transformation of State Socialism: System Change Capitalism, or Something Else, London: Palgrave Macmillan Palgrave, 2007. l Glyn Ford and Soyoung Kwon, North Korea on the Brink: Struggle for Survival, London: Pluto Press, 2008 (also translated into Japanese and Korean). l Soyoung Kwon and Joon Seok Hong (ed.) Sports Relations in East Asia: Theory and Practice , Seoul: iSR Press, 2014. l Soyoung Kwon and Young Chul Cho, “Legitimacy and Regime Security in North Korea: Pyongyang’s Slogan Politics,” East and West Studies, Vol. 26, No. 4, 2014. l Soyoung Kwon, “A Comparative Study of the Olympic Games in East Asia: the nexus between politics and sports,” Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies, Vol. 22, No. 1, 2015 l “Our wish is burden-less unification” Issue Brief No. 48, June 2015, Yonsei Institute for North Korean Studies. l “Rethinking the six-party talk,” Issue Brief No. 59, December 2015, Yonsei Institute for North Korean Studies. l “Rules of the Rulers from a Comparative Perspective” Issue Brief No. 77, September 2016, Yonsei Institute for North Korean Studies. l Soyoung Kwon “North Korea: Not yet ready to change from within” The Interpretor, February 8, 2017. https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/north-korea-not-yet-ready- change-within l “Regime Change and North Korea” Issue Brief No. 89, March 2017. Yonsei Institute for Unification Studies. l “Conflict Analysis of the US-North Korea relations” Issue Brief No. 101, November 2017, Yonsei Institute for Unification Studies. l “PyeongChang Sports Diplomacy”, Hankuk Kyeongjae (Korean Economics) Daily Newspaper Op-ed, March 17, 2018. l Dong Hee Lee et al, “The Case Study of humanities and social science institutes in foreign countries for the vitalization of research institutes of AKS”, Co-project Report, The Academy of Korean Studies, March 2018. l Soyoung Kwon “Prospects for Regime Change in North Korea” International Journal of Korean Studies Vol. XXI, No. 2, Fall/Winter, 2017. http://icks.org/n/data/ijks/2017FW-1.pdf K WON | 7
l Wilson and Kwon “The Importance of position and Power Symmetry in International relations: the Case of U.S. Foreign Policy towards North Korea,” The Korean Journal of Defense Analysis (SSCI-registered), Vol. 30, No. 2 June 2018. l Soyoung Kwon “Post-communist Transition Revisited: the north Korean Regime in a Comparative Authoritarian perspective,” Contemporary Chinese Political Economy and Strategic Relations: An International Journal (SCOPUS), Vol. 4, No. 2, July/Aug. 2018, pp. 559-590. l “Regime Security and Coup-Proofing Mechanism in North Korea” Issue Brief No. 128, June 2019, Yonsei Institute for Unification Studies. l Soyoung Kwon et al. “A Study of the Sports Public Diplomacy Governance System in South Korea,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2019. l “October Surprise? The 2020 US election and US-DPRK relations” Issue Brief No. 139, July 2020, Yonsei Institute for Unification Studies.
RESEARCH (FUNDED) PROJECTS
l Consulting Project on Bidding for 2017 World Taekwondo Championship by Jolla Province, Korea. Head consultant, Jan. 2016-April 2016. l iSR Foundation and IOC funded project, iSR Academy Elite Athlete’s Career Program after retirement, Program Director, Jan. 2015 – Dec. 2016. l Diplomacy in Action Project by the US Department of States. Simulation case development, July 2016 – July 2017. l Academy of Korean Studies (AKS) Government-funded project. The case study of institutes for humanities and social science research in the world, team leader for the study of the U.S. institutes, Sep. 2017 – Mar. 2018. l UNIKOREA Fund Grant Program 2018. Global Academy on Conflict Resolution and Sustainable Peace for Korean Peninsula. Co-PI, August 2018-February 2019. l Ministry of Foreign Affairs Policy Research Project 2019. The Governance System of Sport Diplomacy in Korea, Project Initiator, June - November 2019. l Seoul National University Peace and Unification Institute Project 2019. A Data Analytic Approach to Studying North Korea: a text analysis of the Rodong Shimun 1950-2019, co-researcher, Mar. 2019 – Feb. 2020. K WON | 8
l Consulting Project on Bidding for 2030 Asian Games by Choongchung Province, Korea. Consultant for strategy towards the Olympic Council Asia, Feb - May 2020. l IRI funded project on Human Security Threats faced by North Korean Defectors born in the third country, consultant, March 2021 – June 2021.
PRESENTATIONS (CONFERENCES AND SEMINARS)
l Darwin Humanities and Social Science Seminar Talk, University of Cambridge, England, 24 October, 2000. Paper Title: Survival Cases of State Socialism. l BASEES (British Association for Slavonic and East European Studies) conference, University of Cambridge, England, April 6, 2002. Paper title: Changes in the Structure and Nature of the Top Party Leadership in the USSR, Eastern Europe, China and North Korea. l British Association for Korean Studies conference “Korea in the New Millennium: Culture and Society,” SOAS, London, England, December 7, 2002, Paper Title: Change in North Korea, reflected in Nodong Sinmun editorials 1980-2002. l Political Science Association Specialist Group on Communist and Post-Communist Politics, Nottingham Trent University, England, June 7, 2003. Paper Title: Transformation of North Korea towards a ‘military-oriented’ state. l The European Institute for Asian Studies (EIAS) seminar, The European Union Commission, Brussels, Belgium, October 16, 2003. Paper Title: Observing North Korea from the outside: change in the policy focus and the Party discourse since 1980. l Toward a Northeast Asian Community: EU and NEA Parliamentarians and Experts Meeting, The European Parliament, Brussels, Belgium, December 4-5, 2003. Experts Panelist: Review of Framework for a Northeast Asian Community – the EU and NEA Experience in Regional Cooperation and Community Building. l Two Track Asia Security Conference: Europe-North Korea Dialogue, IISS (The International Institute for Strategic Studies) workshop in collaboration with the United Nations university (Tokyo), May 18-19, IISS London headquarters. l J.F. Kennedy School of Politics and Korean Institute co-hosting Seminar, Harvard University, December 1, 2004, Cambridge MA, Paper Title: The North Korean Leadership - Change or Continuity? K WON | 9
l Korea Luncheon Seminar, Stanford Institute of International Studies, Stanford University, February 4, 2005, Paper Title: An Old Crew on A Sinking Ship – the North Korean Political Elite 1980-2004 l Guest Lecturer for classes on “State-Society Relations in North Korea” and “Civil Society in Korea” at Stanford University. l Stanford-Cornell workshop, Asia Pacific Research Center, Stanford University, April 11, 2005, Paper Title: Survival of the North Korean Regime and Changing Legitimation Modes. l ASEF Workshop, EU-Asia Relations: Cooperating on Regional Security and Integration, European Policy Center and Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies, 26-27 June 2006. Discussant in the panel on “China and Its Role in Asian Security.” l CRASSH conference on The Transformation of State Socialism: System Change, Revolution or Something Else?, Cambridge, England, 8-9 September 2006 Paper Title: North Korea at the Crossroads - Change and Continuity in the North Korean System. l Special Lecture for the Conflict Resolution and European Politics Series at the Brussels Free University (VUB), Belgium, 18 October 2006 Paper Title: The North Korean Nuclear Crisis and the Six Party Talk. l Seminar for the political science and international relations department, Universite Catholique de Louvain (UCL), Belgium, 22 November 2006 Paper Title: Picturing North Korea. l Special Lecture at the Johns Hopkins University SAIS Bologna Center, Bologna, Italy, 7 December 2006 Paper Title: The North Korean Nuclear Crisis and Multilateral Politics. l ISC Conference, 29 October 2012, Seoul, Korea. Paper Title: International Cooperation through Sports: Change of Perspective l 2013 iSR Forum “Sports Relations in East Asia” Seoul, Korea, 22 June 2013. Paper Title: Legacy of Olympic Games in East Asia. l International Peace Research Association IPRA Conference, Istanbul, Turkey, 15 July 2014. Paper Title: International Cooperation through Sport for Peace and Development. l Peace Studies 40th Anniversary Colloquium, Seoul, Korea, 15 October 2014. Paper Title: Changing Legitimation Modes and the North Korean Regime. l World Congress of Korean Association of Political Science, Gyeongju, Korea, 28 August 2015. Paper Title: Transition Theory revisited in reference to Asian communist states. l KAIS annual Conference, Jeongsun, Korea, June 23, 2016. Paper title: the Importance of power, position, and equality in resolving international conflicts. l World Mediation Organization, WMO Symposium, August 24, 2016, Bangkok, Thailand. Paper title: Sports Diplomacy: a tool for helping mediating conflicts. K WON | 10
l Academic Conference on Women and Sport, October 21, 2016, Seoul, Korea. Paper Title: diplomacy and women in sport. l Korea Global Forum, Seoul, Korea, 15 November 2016. Paper title: Post-communist Transition revisited: in reference to the North Korean Regime. l Australia-ROK emerging leaders International Security Forum, Lowy Institute, Sydney, Australia, February 1-4 2017. Paper title: Prospects of Political Change in North Korea l Unification Discourse Seminar of the Academy of Korean Studies, Seoul, Korea, June 9, 2017. Paper Title: Conflict Resolution to Inter-Korea relations. l 2017 Annual Meeting of Academic Council on the United National System on
l Jeju Peace institute and George Mason University (JPI-GMU) seminar, The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election, Panel
LANGUAGES
l Bilingual Korean & English