Byongjin Ahn

Byongjin Ahn joins the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) as a visiting scholar during the 2025-2026 academic year. He recently served at the State Affairs Planning Committee (equivalent to the transition team as President Lee had to assume his post immediately after his election in June)

He is currently a professor at Kyung Hee University's Global Academy for Future Civilizations. He has served as the Rector of the Global Academy for the Future of Civilizations at Kyung Hee University, Vice President of Kyung Hee Cyber University, Assistant Professor of International Relations at Changwon National University, and Lecturer at the City University of New York. Born in Daegu (1967), he earned a B.A. in sociology from Sogang University and an M.A. in political science from Seoul National University. He earned his Ph.D. in American politics from the New School for Social Research, founded by John Dewey. For his dissertation, he was awarded the Hannah Arendt Award.

His main specialty is the U.S. presidency and Korean politics, and he has appeared on numerous television programs and newspapers, including a panel on the U.S. presidential election specials on MBC and SBS and an interview with the New York Times. He has been a regular columnist for the JoongAng Ilbo, Kyunghyang Shinmun, and Hankyoreh, and a guest commentator for KBS. He is a co-author of South Korea's Democracy In Crisis: The Threats of Illiberalism, Populism, and Polarization (Gi-Wook Shin and Ho-Ki Kim Eds, Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, 2022) and many other books and articles.