Hee-Eun KIM is the Founder, President, and CEO of the Center for Asia Pacific Strategy (CAPS), a Washington DC-based international security policy think tank that provides practitioners insights with neutral and actionable policy recommendations about present and future threats to security and stability across the Asia Pacific region. Her mission is to bring awareness to leaders and the general public about real-world defense and security issues pertaining to Asia Pacific nations being the connecting powerhouse among the Asia pacific region, the Washington DC, and European nations.
From 2007 to 2008, she worked at the Gyeonggi Research Institute, a think tank affiliated with Korean Government research on the US-ROK Alliance and US Forces Korea. She led the Gaesung Industrial Complex outreach program at GRI. From 2009 to 2011, she served as the chief manager for an exchange program between the United States and ROK at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education, where she led the pilot program to include North Korean defectors students in the exchange program. From 2011 to 2012, she served on the staff of the Senior Secretary of Foreign Policy and National Security at the Office of the President. She was responsible for writing the monthly internal Think Tank Report and led the outreach program for the Senior Secretary of National Security. At the end of the Presidential administrative term in 2012, she joined the staff of United Nations Command, Combined Forces Command, and United States Forces Korea located in Seoul. She initially started her position as International Relations Officer at the Multi-national Logistics Division and moved her position as the Chief of United Nations Command (UNC) Logistics Branch. She was the first and last who served such position as a non-US and civilian within the three Commands and she founded the internal UN Command conference. In 2016, she was appointed as Deputy Director of Political-Military Engagement on the Commander’s Strategic Initiatives Group for the US four-star General, Commander of United Nations Command, Combined Forces Command, and United States Forces Korea. She supported Commander and the leadership group as a Pol-Mil Advisor and planned and executed Key Leaders Engagements. Recently, she joined the Advisory Board for the Economic Conflict & Competition Research Group at King’s College London.