Andrew Yeo appointed SK-Korea Foundation Chair in Korea Studies

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Brookings Institution announced today that Andrew Yeo has been appointed the SK-Korea Foundation Chair in Korea Studies. He will be affiliated with the Center for East Asia Policy Studies in the Foreign Policy program.

Yeo joins Brookings from the Catholic University of America, where he has taught since 2008 and is a professor of politics and director of Asian studies. His expertise and research interests include the Korean Peninsula and East Asia, alliance politics, overseas basing strategy, civil society, social and transnational movements, and democratization. At Brookings, Yeo’s initial research projects will focus on the Indo-Pacific strategies of the United States and its allies, South Korean foreign policy, state-society relations in North Korea, and great powers and overseas basing strategy.

“We are thrilled to welcome Andrew to Brookings,” said Vice President and Director of Foreign Policy Suzanne Maloney. “He will be an important contributor to Brookings scholarship and a strong addition to the Foreign Policy program.” Mireya Solís, director of the Center for East Asia Policy Studies, also welcomed Yeo’s appointment, stating “Andrew’s expertise on North and South Korea, U.S.-Korea relations, and a wide range of critical regional issues complements and bolsters the work of our scholars, and we are very pleased that he is joining the Center.”

Yeo is the author or co-editor of four books, and his fifth book, “State, Society and Markets in North Korea,” is forthcoming from Cambridge University Press. His analyses and expert commentary have appeared in academic journals as well as outlets including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, South China Morning Post, Korea Times, Japan Times, and Joongang Ilbo. Yeo received his doctorate in government from Cornell University, and bachelor’s in psychology and international studies magna cum laude from Northwestern University.

The SK-Korea Foundation Chair in Korea Studies was established in 2013 through generous endowment gifts from SK and the Korea Foundation. The Chair is housed in the Center for East Asia Policy Studies (CEAP), founded in 1998 as the Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies to promote research and analysis of policy issues facing East Asia and the United States. Under Solís’s leadership, CEAP senior fellows conduct research on the political, economic, security and social issues facing East Asia, and sponsor an array of policy-oriented seminars, discussions, and publications.