My research interest lies in political accountability, civil-military relations, political psychology, and experimental methods.

Broadly speaking, I study how ideological and partisan divide creates serious challenges of governance and how to recover and maintain electoral and administrative accountability in the face of those challenges.

One strand of my research focuses on how to make the military protect national security and respect societal values instead of pursuing private interests. I explore this theme in the context of several important issues of civil-military relations, such as the civilian control of the military, military effectiveness, military recruitment, minority inclusion in the military, and a variety of military reforms. The other strand of my research studies how to mitigate the negative impacts of partisan and ideological polarization on political accountability.

I received Alexander George Award for the best graduate paper presented at the Foreign Policy Analysis section of International Studies Association. I am a Ph.D. student majoring in political science at the University of California, San Diego, where I am the recipient of Marsha Chandler Fellowship. I hold M.A. in political science from Columbia University, the other M.A. in political science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where I received University Fellowship, and B.A., highest honors, in political science and philosophy from Yonsei University, where I received National Humanities & Social Sciences Scholarship (in Korean, “인문100년장학금”).

To fulfill the military service duty as a South Korean male citizen while working on my dissertation project, I am working as a lecturer in military history (first lieutenant) at Korea Army Academy from June 2024 to May 2027. I am particularly excited about this valuable opportunity to improve my teaching skills and also conduct fieldwork in the country of my academic interest.