Ellen Kim

Deputy Director and Senior Fellow, Korea Chair
Ellen Kim

Ellen Kim is deputy director of the Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), where she is also a senior fellow. Her research focuses on U.S.-Korea relations and U.S.-China strategic competition in the Indo-Pacific. She joined the Korea Chair upon its inception in 2009 and previously served as associate director and fellow before her departure in 2015. Her recent publications include "North Korea without Change” (with Victor Cha in The International Relations of Asia, edited by David Shambaugh, Rowman & Littlefield, forthcoming 2022) and "Between a Rock and a Hard Place: South Korea’s Strategic Dilemmas with China and the United States” (with Victor Cha, Asia Policy, January 2016). She holds a PhD in political science and international relations from the University of Southern California, an MPP from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and a BA in international relations and Japanese studies from Wellesley College.

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North Korean Human Rights and International Cooperation: The Way Forward after the UN Commission of Inquiry (COI)+10

Please join the CSIS Korea Chair for the "North Korean Human Rights and International Cooperation: The Way Forward after the UN Commission of Inquiry (COI)+10." conference on April 21 at 9 am EDT. 

Event by John J. Hamre , Victor Cha , Jin Park , Shin-wha Lee , and Hyun-dong Cho , Robert R. King , Jung-Hoon Lee , Michael Kirby , Elizabeth Salmón , Robert Joseph , Jung H. Pak , Scott Snyder , Chaesung Chun , Sheena Chestnut Greitens , Ellen Kim — April 21, 2023

Press Briefing: Previewing ROK President Yoon Suk Yeol’s State Visit

CSIS hosted a call-in press briefing on Wednesday, April 19 to preview the upcoming State Visit of Republic of Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol and First Lady Kim Keon Hee to the United States on April 26.

Event by Victor Cha , Ellen Kim , Nicholas Szechenyi , and Gregory C. Allen — April 19, 2023

North Korea’s Ballistic Missile Campaign

North Korea’s ongoing ballistic missile campaign is no longer a protest to the U.S.-ROK military exercise. The latest missile launches are tantamount to war simulation drills to test the reliability and precision of its offensive striking capability.

Commentary by Ellen Kim — March 20, 2023

The Kishida-Yoon Summit Meeting: A New Start for Japan-Korea Relations

South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol will visit Japan for a bilateral summit with Japanese prime minister Kishida Fumio, the first official summit in 12 years to be held in either country.

Critical Questions by Ellen Kim , Nicholas Szechenyi , Victor Cha , and Christopher B. Johnstone — March 15, 2023

A Busy Weekend of Missile Tests in North Korea

This weekend of missile tests from North Korea signals that 2023 will not be a quiet year and could reach levels of dissonance seen in 2022. These tests manifest active North Korea's active exercising of its missile attacks against the United States, Japan, and South Korea.

Critical Questions by Victor Cha and Ellen Kim — February 21, 2023

Assessment of South Korea’s New Indo-Pacific Strategy

South Korea’s Indo-Pacific Strategy has come under scrutiny in the United States and China. It is a key indicator of how Seoul will align itself with Washington or Beijing in the Indo-Pacific after years of "strategic ambiguity" pursued under the previous Moon government.

Commentary by Ellen Kim — January 19, 2023

Indo-Pacific Forecast 2023

What is the outlook for U.S.-China relations? Which of the U.S. alliance networks in the Indo-Pacific is most promising? Will IPEF thrive? Join CSIS experts to explore these and other questions during our annual preview of political, security, and economic developments.

Event by Victor Cha , Emily Benson , Jude Blanchette , Charles Edel , Matthew P. Goodman , Christopher B. Johnstone , Scott Kennedy , Ellen Kim , and Bonny Lin , Lily McElwee , Erin L. Murphy , Yuko Nakano , Gregory B. Poling , William Alan Reinsch , Nicholas Szechenyi , Raymond Vickery , Kurt Campbell , Ambassador Taeyong Cho , Ambassador Jose Manuel G. Romualdez — January 12, 2023

North Korea’s Missile Crossed the Northern Limit Line

On November 2, North Korea fired 25 missiles, the most in a single day, including one SRBM in the direction of South Korea’s Ulleung Island, triggering an air raid alert and landing close to South Korea’s territorial waters for the first time since 1945.

Critical Questions by Ellen Kim — November 2, 2022