With more than forty faculty members offering courses or conducting research related to Korea, the Center has by far the greatest number of scholars of any such institution in the United States, and our resources for scholarship on Korea rank in the upper echelon of academic institutions throughout the world. Courses relating to Korea in fields such as anthropology, Asian studies, business, communication, dance, economics, history, journalism, language, law, linguistics, literature, music, political science, social work, and sociology are regularly offered. With its dedicated faculty and staff, and its many Korea-related activities, the Center for Korean Studies offers a rich opportunity for those interested in the study of Korea.
Full Members
![Allen_Chizuko Allen_Chizuko](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Allen_Chizuko-e1639685076166.jpg)
Chizuko T. Allen
International Research and Fellowships Coordinator, School of Pacific and Asian Studies. Modern Korean intellectual history; ancient Korea's relations with Japan.
![Bae_Christopher Bae_Christopher](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Bae_Christopher-e1639685320160.jpg)
Christopher J. Bae
Professor of Anthropology. East Asian prehistory; paleoanthropology; vertebrate taphonomy; behavioral ecology; quantitative analysis; modern human origins; origins of agriculture in Korea, Japan, and China.
![image003 Tae-Ung Baik](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/image003-e1639687211671.jpg)
Tae-Ung Baik
Professor of Law. Director of Center for Korean Studies; International human rights law; human rights in Asia; comparative law; Korean law.
![image004 Sang Yee Cheon](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/image004-e1639687900368.jpg)
Sang Yee Cheon
Associate Professor of Korean Language and Director, Korean Language Flagship Center. Korean linguistics; phonetics/phonology; second-language acquisition; teaching language and culture through film/media.
![image005 image005](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/image005-e1639688010718.jpg)
Han-Byul Chung
Assistant Professor, Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures. Syntax, Korean linguistics, Manchu, Syntax-semantics interface.
![image006 Cheehyung Harrison Kim](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/image006-e1639688094508.jpg)
Cheehyung Harrison Kim
Associate Professor of History. East Asia, Korea, North Korea, socialism, labor, industrialism, everyday life, urban life, transnationality, visuality.
![image007 image007](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/image007-e1639688138877.jpg)
Karl E. Kim
Professor of Urban and Regional Planning. Korean film; Cheju tourism development; attitudes of U.S.-trained planners in Korea.
![image008 image008](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/image008-e1639688350100.jpg)
Mary Shin Kim
Associate Professor of Korean Language. Discourse analysis; conversation analysis; Korean vocabulary acquisition; Korean language pedagogy.
![image009 image009](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/image009-e1639688449509.jpg)
Min-Sun Kim
Professor of Communicology. Role of cognition in conversational styles among people of different cultural orientations.
![image011 image011](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/image011-e1639688521892.jpg)
David Krolikoski
Assistant Professor of Korean Literature. Modern Korean poetry; translation studies; poetics; postcolonial theory; transnational literature.
![image013 image013](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/image013-e1639688640971.jpg)
Hye-ryeon Lee
Professor of Communicology. Health promotion among Korean Americans; health communication; intercultural communication.
![image014 image014](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/image014-e1639688682236.jpg)
Sang-Hyop Lee
Professor of Economics. Korea's labor market; aging population; education investment; human resources; labor economics; population economics; economic development.
![image016 image016](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/image016-e1639685431640.jpg)
William O'Grady
Professor of Linguistics. Korean linguistics (syntax, language acquisition).
![image030 image030](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/image030-e1639687262688.jpg)
Thomas A. Osborne
Professor of Music. Composition; music theory; Korean instruments, music, and poetry.
![image018 image018](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/image018-e1639685543932.jpg)
Hyoung-June Park
Associate Professor of Architecture. Morphological transformation; digital design.
![image019 image019](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/image019-e1639685635666.jpg)
Mee-Jeong Park
Associate Professor of Korean Language. Instructional technology;K-ToBl; Korean boundary tones; Korean sentence-ending suffixes.
![image020 image020](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/image020-e1639685682642.jpg)
Young-a Park
Associate Professor of Asian Studies. Social movements; film industry; North Korean refugees.
![image021 image021](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/image021-e1639685756467.jpg)
S. Ghon Rhee
Professor of International Finance and Banking. Corporate finance; market microstructure; investment; financial market policy in the areas of development of the corporate, government, and municipal bond markets; pension systems; regional financial markets integration.
![image022 image022](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/image022-e1639685824372.jpg)
R. Anderson Sutton
Assistant vice chancellor for international and exchange programs. Korean contemporary musical practice and issues of identity; fusion aesthetics; mass media.
![image031 image031](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/image031-e1639687279899.jpg)
Donald R. Womack
Professor of Music. Music composition and theory; Korean instruments and music.
![image023 image023](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/image023-e1639686061355.jpg)
Myungji Yang
Associate Professor of Sociology. Comparative politics; Korean politics; development and democracy; class formation.
![Emily Yoon Emily Yoon](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Emily-Yoon.jpg)
Emily Jungmin Yoon
Assistant Professor of Korean literature. Contemporary Korean and Korean American poetry; gender and feminism; transnational literature; translation; creative writing.
Associate Members
![Andrew Cheng Andrew Cheng](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Andrew-Cheng.jpg)
Andrew Cheng
Assistant Professor of Linguistics. Korean diaspora, language and ethnic identity, Korean American English, sound change, sociophonetics
![image024 image024](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/image024-e1639686567711.jpg)
Sun-Ki Chai
Professor of Sociology. Korean culture and patterns of economic development; Korean collective identity and mobilization; social theory; culture and rationality; development and social change in East Asia; race and ethnicity; formal modeling and simulation.
![Erica Chang Erica Chang](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Erica-Chang-e1639769632375.jpg)
Erica Soonyoung Chang
Head librarian, Cataloging Department, Thomas H. Hamilton Library.
![image026 image026](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/image026-e1639686943361.jpg)
Andre Haag
Assistant Professor of Japanese Literature. Narratives of empire, nation, and colony (Korea) in modern Japanese literature (Meiji-Taishō-Shōwa); Korean anticolonial resistance in Japanese popular colonial discourse and visual culture.
![Shin Ae Han Shin Ae Han](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Shin-Ae-Han.jpg)
Shin Ae Han
Assistant Professor of Elementary Education.
Early Childhood Education, Teacher Education, Comparative and International Education
![image027 image027](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/image027-e1639687041137.jpg)
Seunghye Hong
Associate Professor, Myron B. Thompson School of Social Work. Health/mental health; social determinants of health/mental health; neighborhood contexts; immigration; community practice; multicultural practices with diverse populations; research methods.
![image028 image028](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/image028-e1639687118455.jpg)
Ji Young Kim
Associate Professor, School of Communications. Strategic communications in international and national contexts.
![](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/plugins/bb-plugin/img/pixel.png)
![endtile71008_512 CKS building end tile decoration](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/endtile71008_512-150x150.jpg)
Ellie Kim
Librarian, Korean Studies/Thomas H. Hamilton Library
eunahkim@hawaii.edu
![image029 image029](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/image029-e1639687160612.jpg)
Hye Seung Lee
Instructor, Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures. Korean linguistics, Sociolinguistics, Discourse analysis, Korean pedagogy.
![Kyoung Eun Lee Kyoung Eun Lee](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Kyoung-Eun-Lee-scaled.jpg)
Kyoung Eun Lee,
Associate Professor of Nancy Atmospera-Walch School of Nursing: Immigrant women's health; Health disparities; Culturally tailored health intervention; Active, healthy, and happy aging
![SHL Headshot SHL Headshot](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/SHL-Headshot-scaled.jpg)
S. Heijin Lee
Assistant Professor of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.
Korean beauty and pop culture, digital and visual media, transnational feminisms, Asian/American studies
![Tripp Tripp](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Tripp.jpg)
Jeffrey Tripp
Instructor, Department of American Studies. U.S.-East Asia Relations, U.S.-Korea Relations, American Empire, U.S. and the World, Historic Preservation (US, Asia, Pacific)
Community Associate Members
![image032 image032](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/image032-e1639687323814.jpg)
Karl Moskowitz
Associate Member. History; social and economic development.
![image033 image033](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/image033-e1639687364933.jpg)
Duk Hee Murabayashi
Associate Member. President, Korean Immigration Research Institute in Hawaii; Sociology; urban and regional planning.
Retired Members
![image034 image034](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/image034-e1639687411626.jpg)
Minja Kim Choe
Senior Fellow, East-West Center, and Affiliate Graduate Faculty, UHM Population Studies. Family and gender issues; health behavior of adolescents and young adults; fertility and reproductive health; child survival; statistical analysis of demographic process.
![Yongho Choe Yongho Choe](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Yongho-Choe-150x148.jpg)
Yong-ho Ch'oe
Professor of History. Educational history of Korea; Koreans in Hawai'i.
![Hugh W Kang Hugh W Kang](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Hugh-W-Kang-e1639706374973.jpg)
Hugh H.W. Kang
Professor of History. Late Silla-Early Koryŏ; comparative history of Korea, Japan, and China.
![image025 image025](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/image025-e1639686892707.jpg)
Sumi Chang
Instructor, Korean Language Flagship Program. Korean sociolinguistics; pedagogy; second language acquisition.
![endtile71008_512 CKS building end tile decoration](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/endtile71008_512-150x150.jpg)
Joung-Im Kim
Associate Professor of Communication. Development/international communications; health communication in developing countries; social network analysis; diffusion of innovations.
![image010 image010](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/image010-e1639688485608.jpg)
Yung-Hee Kim
Professor of Korean Literature. Modern Korean literature; modern Korean Women writers and fiction; Korean literature and culture.
![image035 image035](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/image035-e1639687456523.jpg)
Hagen Koo
Professor of Sociology. Contemporary Korean society and culture; globalization and social inequality; comparative East Asian institutions.
![image036 image036](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/image036-e1639687546748.jpg)
Frederick Lau
Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology. Chinese music; music and politics; musical change; nationalism, identity, and diaspora; avant-garde music.
![image012 image012](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/image012-e1639688591445.jpg)
![dongjae lee dongjae lee](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/dongjae-lee-e1639706325642.png)
Dong Jae Lee
Associate Professor of Korean Language. Korean language teaching; general linguistics; languages in contact; sociolinguistics; Korean linguistics.
![image015 image015](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/image015-e1639685360216.jpg)
Yean Ju Lee
Associate Professor of Sociology. Aging, gender stratification, and family issues in East Asia.
![image017 image017](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/image017-e1639685495156.jpg)
Gary Yong Gi Pak
Professor of English. Korean-American/Asian-American/Ethnic American literatures; contemporary Korean cinema; contemporary Korean culture; Korean literature in translation; Korean immigrant history in Hawaii.
![MW-mp-071713-NedShultz MW-mp-071713-NedShultz](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/MW-mp-071713-NedShultz-e1639706740673.jpg)
Edward J. Shultz
Professor of Asian Studies. Koryŏ history with a special interest in social, institutional, and political history; Korean history in general.
![image039 image039](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/image039-e1639687680287.jpg)
Ho-min Sohn
Professor of Korean Language. Korean linguistics and sociolinguistics; Korean language pedagogy; general and Oceanic linguistics.
![image040 image040](https://manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/image040-e1639687722541.jpg)
Judy Van Zile
Professor of Dance. Traditional and contemporary Korean dance; issues relating to identity and change; dance iconography; movement analysis.