Organization

CHEONG Seong-Chang

Department

Center for Korean peninsula Strategy

Contact

070-4150-9937

Position

Director

E-MAIL

softpower@sejong.org

LIST Organization Chart

Degree and Work Experience
EDUCATION

 

Ph.D., Political Science, Université Paris Nanterre, November 1996

Dissertation: “Le kimilsongisme: De Kim Il-Song à Kim Chong-Il”

M.A., Political Science, Université Paris Nanterre, September 1988

B.A, Political Science & Diplomacy, Kyung Hee University, February 1986

 

 

ACADEMIC POSITIONS

 

02/2008-Present Senior Research Fellow, The Sejong Institute

12/2023-Present Director of the Center for Korean Peninsula Strategy, The Sejong Institute

01/2023-11/2023 Director of the Center for East Asian Cooperation, The Sejong Institute

01/2022-11/2023 Director of the Department of Reunification Strategy Studies, The Sejong Institute

01/2019-12/2022 Director of the Center for North Korean Studies, The Sejong Institute

06/2018-12/2019 Vice President of Research Planning, The Sejong Institute

04/2015-05/2018 Director of the Department of Reunification Strategy Studies, The Sejong Institute

01/2017-12/2017 Vice President, The Korean Association for International Studies

01/2012-12/2012 Chair, Politics and Military Subcommittee, Korean Association of North Korean Studies

02/2007-06/2009 Director of the Department of Inter-Korean Relations Studies, The Sejong Institute

09/2008-02/2009 Lecturer, Seoul National University

01/2008-12/2008 Chair, Subcommittee for North Korea and Unification studies, Korean Political Sciences Association

09/2007-02/2008 Lecturer, Seoul National University

02/2001-02/2008 Research Fellow, The Sejong Institute

01/2006-06/2006 Visiting Scholar, University of Connecticut

 

 

GOVERNMENT ADVISORY & PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

 

09/2017-08/2021 Advisor, The National Unification Advisory Council

04/2019-04/2021 Member, Self-Assessment Committee, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

08/2018-07/2020 Policy Advisor, Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation

07/2018-07/2020 Policy Advisor, The Office of National Security, Blue House (Cheong Wa Dae)

09/2017-08/2019 Standing Committee Member, The National Unification Advisory Council

11/2017-11/2018 Policy Advisor, Ministry of Unification

11/2016-11/2017 Policy Advisor, Ministry of Unification

01/2016-12/2016 Guest Commentator, KBS (Korean Broadcasting System)

09/2015-08/2016 Policy Advisor, Ministry of Unification

03/2013-02/2015 Member, North Korean Human Rights Forum, National Human Rights Commission of Korea

04/2015-12/2015 Policy Advisor, the Joint Chiefs of Staff

01/2015-12/2015 Guest Commentator, KBS

04/2014-03/2015 Policy Advisor, the Joint Chiefs of Staff

01/2014-12/2014 Guest Commentator, KBS

09/2013-08/2014 Policy Advisor, Ministry of Unification

04/2013-03/2014 Policy Advisor, the Joint Chiefs of Staff

07/2012-07/2013 Policy Advisor, Ministry of Unification

03/2011-02/2013 Guest Editorial Writer, Maeil Business News

03/2011-02/2012 Member, Committee for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Policy Advisory Committee, Ministry of National Defense

03/2009-02/2011 Policy Advisor, Division of Military Intelligence, Ministry of National Defense

10/2007-10/2008 Member, Special Committee on Inter-Korean Cooperation, Presidential Committee on Northeast Asian Cooperation Initiative

10/2006-10/2007 Member, Special Committee on Inter-Korean Cooperation, Presidential Committee on Northeast Asian Cooperation Initiative

10/2005-10/2006 Member, Special Committee on Inter-Korean Cooperation, Presidential Committee on Northeast Asian Cooperation Initiative

07/2005-06/2006 Policy Advisor, Subcommittee for Inter-Korean Dialogue, Policy Advisory Committee, Ministry of Unification

07/2004-06/2005 Policy Advisor, Subcommittee for Inter-Korean Dialogue, Policy Advisory Committee, Ministry of Unification

07/2003-06/2004 Policy Advisor, Subcommittee for Inter-Korean Dialogue, Policy Advisory Committee, Ministry of Unification

 

Publications

Books

Why We Should Become a Nuclear Power (Seoul: Medici Media, 2023) (in Korean)

The Contemporary Politics of North Korea: History, Ideology, and Power Structure (Seoul: Hanul Academy, 2011) (in Korean)

Idéologie et système en Corée du Nord: De Kim Il-Song à Kim Chong-Il (Paris: L’Harmattan, 1997)

 

 

Monographs

Study on the Status and Role of the Supreme Commander of the Korean People’s Army (Seongnam: The Sejong Institute, 2015) (in Korean)

Status and Role of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly of North Korea in the Kim Jong Un Era (Seongnam: The Sejong Institute, 2014) (in Korean)

Status and Role of the General Political Bureau of the Korean People’s Army and the Succession of Power (Seongnam: The Sejong Institute, 2013) (in Korean)

Continuity and Change in the China-North Korea Military Exchanges and Cooperation (Seongnam: The Sejong Institute, 2012) (in Korean)

A Comparative Study of the Central Military Commissions in China and North Korea: With a Focus on the Status, Role, and Issue of Succession (Seongnam: The Sejong Institute, 2011) (in Korean)

North Korea and the European Union in the Kim Jong Il Era: A Search for a New Relationship (Seongnam: The Sejong Institute, 2002) (in Korean)

 

 

Selected Articles & Book Chapters

“Assessing the Change in Kim Jong Un Regime’s Power Elite and Political Stability,” in Yang Un-Chul, ed., Whither North Korea? (Seongnam: The Sejong Institute, 2018).

“The North Korea Policy Direction for the Next Government,” in The Sejong Institute, ed., Government Agenda for the Next Government: Diplomacy, Security, and Unification (Seongnam: The Sejong Institute, 2017). (in Korean)

“Kim Jong Un’s Political Leadership Style,” in Cheong Seong-Chang, et al., Study on Kim Jong Un’s Leadership Style (Seongnam: The Sejong Institute, 2017). (in Korean)

“Evaluation of the 7th Workers’ Party Congress of the DPRK: Status of Kim Jong Un and Changes in Power Elites,” Diplomacy 118 (July 2016). (in Korean)

“Prospect for Regime Change in North Korea and the Unification Strategy for South Korea,” in Cheong Seong-Chang, ed., National Strategy of Republic of Korea 2030: Unification (Seongnam: The Sejong Institute, 2016). (in Korean)

“Changes in North Korean Power Elites of the Workers’ Party of Korea and the Military under the Kim Jong Un Regime,” in Cheong Seong-Chang, ed., Domestic Policy and Foreign Relations of the Kim Jong Un Regime (Seongnam: The Sejong Institute, 2014). (in Korean)

“How Will [Korean] Unification Come? A Scientific Approach to the Conditions for Unification,” Diplomacy 109 (April 2014). (in Korean)

“Evaluation of the Kim Jong Un Regime’s Stability after the Purge of Jang Song Thaek,” National Defense Studies 57, 1 (March 2014). (in Korean)

“The Anatomy of Kim Jong Un’s Power,” Global Asia 9, 1 (Spring 2014).

“Ruling Ideology: From Marxism-Leninism To Kimilsung-Kimjongilism,” in Jang Dal-jung, ed., Lectures on Contemporary North Korean Studies (Seoul: Sahoe Pyeongnon, 2013). (in Korean)

“The Core Structure and the Power Elites of Kim Jong Un’s Succession System,” in Park, Myeong-gyu, et al., The Building Process, the Elites, the Policy, and the Stability of Kim Jong Un’s Succession System (Seoul: Institute for Peace and Unification Studies of Seoul National University, 2011). (in Korean)

“La succession du pouvoir en Corée du Nord et ses implications sur la politique extérieure du pays,” Hérodote (juin 2011).

“Formalization of Kim Jong Un’s Succession System and Changes in North Korea’s Power Structure,” North Korean Studies Review 14, 2 (2010). (in Korean)

“Status, Role, and Elites of North Korea's National Defense Commission during the Kim Jong Il Era,” Sejong Policy Studies 6, 1 (2010). (in Korean)

“Policy Environment and Changes in Domestic and Foreign Policies of North Korea: The Succession Issue, Satellite Launch, and the Second Nuclear Test,” in Kim Seong-cheol, ed., Diplomatic Environment and the Korean Peninsula (Seongnam: The Sejong Institute, 2009). (in Korean)

“Prospects for the North Korean Power System in the Post-Kim Jong Il Era,” Sejong Policy Studies 5, 1 (2009). (in Korean)

“Guidance Ideology, Power Succession, and the Party in the Kim Jong Il Era,” in Cheong Seong-Chang, ed., Is North Korea Changing? 1997 vs. 2007 (Seongnam: The Sejong Institute, 2008). (in Korean)

“Kim Jong Il’s Military-First Politics and a Change in the Power Elite,” in Paik Haksoon and Seong-Chang Cheong, eds., North Korea in Distress: Confronting Domestic and External Challenges (Seongnam: The Sejong Institute, 2008).

“Building a Peace Regime on the Korean Peninsula: Issues and Strategies,” in Park Kie-Duck and Lee Sang Hyun eds., The North Korea Issue and a Peace Regime on the Korean Peninsula (Seongnam: The Sejong Institute, 2008). (in Korean)

“The North Korea-Europe Relationship,” in Center for North Korea Studies of the Sejong Institute, ed., Foreign Relations of North Korea (Seoul: Hanul Academy, 2007). (in Korean)

“Status and Role of the Workers’ Party of Korea,” in Center for North Korean Studies of the Sejong Institute, ed., Party, State Apparatus, and the Military of North Korea (Seoul: Hanul Academy, 2007). (in Korean)

“Research in North Korean Politics and South Korea-Centrism,” Politics and Information Study 10, 1 (2007). (in Korean)

“Institutional Mechanisms and a Management Plan for a Korean Confederation,” in Shin Jeong-hyeon, et al., Cases of Confederation and the Unification Process of the Two Koreas: A New Search for a Korean Confederation (Seoul: Hanul Academy, 2004). (in Korean)

“The Kim Il Sung Socialist Youth League,” in Center for North Korean Studies of the Sejong Institute, ed., Extraparty Organizations of the Workers’ Party of [North] Korea (Seoul: Hanul Academy, 2004). (in Korean)

“A Strategy for Revolution,” in Center for North Korean Studies of the Sejong Institute, ed., National Strategy of North Korea (Seoul: Hanul Academy, 2003). (in Korean)

“The ‘Military-First Policy’ in North Korea and Party-Military Relations during the Kim Jong Il Era,” National Strategy 7, 3 (Autumn 2001). (in Korean)

“Factors, Patterns, and Prospects for Change in North Korea: A Focus on the Possibility of Change on the Regime, System, and State Levels,” in Hamm Taik-young, et al., Capabilities and Survival Strategy of the Kim Jong Il's Regime, (Seoul: Institute for Far Eastern Studies of Kyungnam University, 2000). (in Korean)

“La Corée du Nord et ses rapports avec ses grands voisins,” Hérodote 97 (2000).

“The Ideological and Cultural Origins of the Kim Il Sung Regime and Its Characteristics,” The Kohwang Political Science Review 1 (1997). (in Korean)

“Un avenir commun pour les deux Corées?” Relations Internationales et Stratégiques 27 (Automne 1997).

“North Korea’s Economic Management Methods: Theory and Practice,” Journal of North Korean Studies 14 (1990). (in Korean)

 

 

Interests and Expertise

Dr. Cheong has been focusing his research on North Korean politics and military, Kim Jong-un’s leadership and North Korea’s power elite, North Korean nuclear program, and unification strategies.

List of Publications