I grew up in South Korea and completed my postgraduate degrees of Dip. Ed at Melbourne University, and MA and PhD at the Australian National University. My PhD dissertation was a study of "Park Chung Hee's Self-Reliance Ideology, 1961-1979: Modernization and National Restoration under President Park Chung Hee". I authored Korean Skilled Workers: Toward A Labor Aristocracy (2020) and Korea's Development under Park Chung Hee: Rapid Industrialization 1961-1979 (2004); and co-edited, Reassessing the Park Chung Hee Era, 1961-1979: Development Political Thought, Democracy and Clutural Influence (2011). I published many articles in academic journals, newspapers, international policy forums and online news outlets. Some of the most recent ones  include: "A youth revolt is under way in South Korea (2021),"  "Out of Power and On Trial: The Corruption of Former Leaders in East Asia" (with Robert Cribb, 2018), and "President Rooh Moo-Hyun's Last Interview and the Roh Moo-Hyun Phenomenon in South Korea" (2013), among other articles. I served as Founding-Director of the Australia-Korea Leadership Forum at the ANU (2008-9) and I taught in the Department of Sociology, Yonsei University, South Korea, as Distinguished Professor (2014).

Career highlights

Associate Professor, Korea Politics and History, and Director of the Australia-Korea Leadership Forum at the Australian National University; Senior Research Fellow at the University of Wollongong (2004); Research Fellow at Wollongong and Newcastle Universities (2002-2003); Visiting Associate Professor, Linfield College, Oregon, USA (1998-99).