Graduate Applicant
Discuss your goals for graduate study and for your professional career. What experiences have most contributed to your desire to study international relations? How will SAIS and your intended concentration serve to meet your academic and professional goals? Applicants intending to pursue a dual degree should address this interest as well.
As a candidate for the Johns Hopkins SAIS program, I seek to ultimately become both a scholar and investigator to better improve our understanding of international security and military strategy. I am particularly interested in North Korea’s role in regional stability, and its implications for nearby states. By integrating an understanding of the significance of historical symbols and the dynamics of race and cultural relations from my time in the region, I desire to better equip and inform policy in the event of a regime change, or collapse in North Korea from a think tank, Federal Agency, or an IO.
Wading through a sea of protestors as I passed military police on my way off base became part of my weekend routine. Leaving the Navy base to teach English immersed me in Japanese language, culture, and society. This ultimately equipped me with the tools to discover what the protestors outside wanted to achieve beyond their red letters, underlines, and exclamations marks on picket signs and banners. Despite my strangely hybrid Korean-American accent, the Japanese protestors responded to my inquiries receptively, reflecting their desire to end U.S. military operations in Japan. Beyond the gates of the base my father, a naval chaplain, took it upon himself to serve as a community ambassador to local churches to help facilitate dialogue. His efforts showed me how he had helped both parties better glean the motivations of the other. Base administrators improved their understanding of why Japanese pacifism was so resilient while also trying to communicate the strategic necessity of checking potential security challenges in North and South East Asia.
At UC Berkeley I pursued an internship to understand the impact of policies on diasporiccommunities. Working with the Korean Community Center of the East Bay (KCCEB) I helped immigrants (including non-Korean) apply for citizenship and apply for government healthcare and housing programs. This work shed light on the difficulties of cultural and assimilation issues, perceptions of their new home, and in some cases their views on North Koreans. While working for the KCCEB, I simultaneously had the fortune to undertake an undergraduate student instructor position for Professor Elaine Kim’s Korean American History class. I took it upon myself to organize discussions and focus not only on Korean-Americans, but also the unique
dynamic of other Korean Diasporas and how political cleavages in the peninsula changed the definition of “Korean” identity. North Korea wields social power through symbolism and identity as demonstrated by their purge of foreign influenced words in the Korean language under Kim Il-sung. In the wake of North Korean regime failure, an understanding of cultural distinctions and perceptions of North and South Koreans by neighboring states during a potential refugee crisis is paramount in creating a more complete foundation for U.S. response.
Majoring in International Relations, Asian Diaspora studies and minoring in Public Policy, my goal is to become an academic or security policy analyst. Coming from a family full of servicemen from my Korean War veteran grandfathers, Japanese occupation surviving grandmother, and chaplain father and uncle (U.S. Navy and Army respectively), security policy and conflict management were common topics of discussion. The U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins SAIS is the perfect match for my interests and academic background covering everything I decided to continue studying from my undergraduate career, from nuclear deterrence, reunification, and even diaspora studies in working papers. USKI offers access to amazing faculty and resources like 38north.org which would provide a quality to my research unmatched by any other institution. A good craftsman, never blames his tools for he has good tools. The USKI would be the best tools I could ever ask for.