Dr. Heung-Kyu KIM received his BA and MA in international relations at Seoul National University, ROK, and his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Michigan, USA. He is a founder of the US-China Policy Institute and serves as Director, and Professor in the Department of Political Science at Ajou University, ROK. He previously served for six years as a Professor at the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security (IFANS), MOFA. He was a visiting fellow at Georgetown University, USA in 2018 and at the Institute for Security and Development Policy(ISDP) in Stockholm, Sweden in February 2020.
His current assignments include being Chairperson of the Reform Commission of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a board member of the Policy Advisory Commission in the Presidential National Security Council, the Ministry of National Defense, and the Army. Also, Dr. Kim was Chairperson of the foreign policy sub-committee in the Presidential Policy Planning Commission, an executive consultant in the State Affairs Planning Advisory Committee for the Moon Jae-in government, and a regular participant at ROK-China Strategic Dialogues. Dr. Kim has written more than 300 articles, books, and policy papers regarding Chinese politics and foreign policy, and security issues in Northeast Asia. He wrote a book titled China’s Central-Local Relations and Decision-Making and got an award for Excellency of the Year by the Ministry of Culture in 2008. He was also awarded the NEAR Foundation Academic Prize of the Year in the area of Foreign Policy and Security in 2014.