Victor Cha of Georgetown University and Ramon Pacheco Pardo of King's College, London team up to explore the history of modern Korea, from the late nineteenth century, Japanese occupation, and Cold War division to democratization, nuclear weapons, and BTS. A country situated amongst the world’s largest powers—including China, Japan, Russia, and the United States—Korea’s fate has been affected by its geography and the strength of its leadership and society. Cha and Pardo shed light on the evolving identities of the two Koreas, explaining the sharp differences between North and South, and prospects for unification.

Victor Cha is president of the Geopolitics and Foreign Policy Department and Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). He is also the distinguished university professor and professor of government at Georgetown University. He was appointed in 2021 by the Biden administration to serve on the Defense Policy Board in an advisory role to the secretary of defense. From 2004 to 2007, he served on the National Security Council (NSC) and was responsible for Japan, Korea, Australia/New Zealand, and Pacific Island nations. Dr. Cha was U.S. deputy head of delegation at the Six Party Talks and received two outstanding service commendations during his tenure at the NSC. He is the author of eight books, including the award-winning Alignment Despite Antagonism: The United States-Korea-Japan Security Triangle (Stanford, 1999) (winner of the 2000 Ohira Book Prize), The Impossible State: North Korea, Past and Future (Ecco, 2012) selected by Foreign Affairs as a “Best Book on the Asia-Pacific for 2012", Powerplay: Origins of the American Alliance System in Asia (Princeton, 2018), Korea: A New History of South and North (Yale, 2023), and The Black Box: Demystifying the Study of Korean Unification and North Korea (Columbia University Press, 2024). He serves on the board of the National Endowment for Democracy and is a senior fellow at the George W. Bush Institute. He is also a foreign affairs contributor for MSNBC and NBC News. Professor Cha received his PhD, MIA and BA degree from Columbia University and a BA Honors from Oxford University.

Ramon Pacheco Pardo is Professor of International Relations at King’s College London and the KF-VUB Korea Chair at the Brussels School of Governance of Vrije Universiteit Brussel. He is also King's Regional Envoy for East and South East Asia, helping to shape and implement the university's strategy for the region. He is also Adjunct Fellow (Non-Resident) with the Korea Chair at CSIS, Scientific Council member at Elcano Royal Institute, Steering Committee member at CSCAP EU, Advisory Committee member at Jeju Forum and Advisory Committee member at the Reset Korea Campaign of JoongAng Ilbo, a major Korean newspaper. He has held visiting positions at Korea University, the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and Melbourne University. His publications include the books North Korea: Survival of a Political Dynasty (Agenda Publishing, 2024), Korea: A New History of South & North (Yale University Press, 2023; with Victor Cha), South Korea's Grand Strategy: Making Its Own Destiny (Columbia University Press, 2023), Shrimp to Whale: South Korea from the Forgotten War to K-Pop (Hurst and Oxford University Press, 2022) and North Korea-US Relations from Kim Jong Il to Kim Jong Un (Routledge, 2019). Prof Pacheco Pardo has participated in track 1.5 and 2 dialogues with China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea and the United States. He has testified before the European Parliament and consulted and advised NATO, the OECD and the governments of Canada, the EU, South Korea, Spain, the UK and the United States as well as several private firms, among others. Professor Pacheco Pardo is a regular columnist with JoongAng Ilbo. He is also a frequent media commentator on North East Asian and affairs and Europe-East Asia and Europe-Indo-Pacific relations.

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