The 38 North Program on the Henry L. Stimson Middle is happy to welcome our 2026-2027 cohort for the 38 North Rising Students Fellowship Program.
Over the subsequent a number of months, this group of students can be mentored by senior North Korea watchers to boost their analysis methodology and understanding of North Korea. They may even publish on 38 North and take part in numerous private and non-private occasions.
Meet the Cohort:
Maria del Carmen Corte is a contractor supporting the Nationwide Nuclear Safety Administration’s (NNSA) Workplace of Nuclear Smuggling Detection and Deterrence, managing worldwide nuclear safety applications throughout Latin America and Central Asia. She entered the NNSA ecosystem as a Graduate Fellow with Pacific Northwest Nationwide Laboratory. Earlier than NNSA, Maricarmen labored on the manufacturing and editorial refinement of investigative and satellite tv for pc imagery studies on North Korean human rights and nuclear proliferation for the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea. She beforehand accomplished internships with the Korea Innovation Middle and the East-West Middle, and on the Embassy of Mexico in Seoul. Maricarmen holds a Grasp of Arts in Legislation and Diplomacy from the Fletcher Faculty at Tufts College, the place she was distinguished as a Gregory Henderson Scholar in Korean Research, and graduated from the Texas Tech College with twin bachelor’s in Philosophy and Digital Media and Communications.
Christopher Khatouki is a Postdoctoral Fellow on the College of New South Wales (UNSW). He additionally serves because the Vice President of the Australian Institute of Worldwide Affairs NSW. His analysis examines the intersection of financial governance and geopolitics within the Indo-Pacific, with a specific concentrate on the Korean Peninsula. He was a Korea Basis Graduate Fellow from 2021 to 2024 and is at present a Visiting Scholar at Seoul Nationwide College Institute for Korean Political Research (IKPS). Christopher holds a PhD in Worldwide Political Financial system from UNSW. Beforehand, he labored as a Programme and Analysis Affiliate at Asia Society Australia. His writing regularly seem in publications together with East Asia Discussion board, South China Morning Submit, The Diplomat, Asia Society Coverage Institute, The Interpreter, Australian Outlook, amongst others.
Taerae Kim is the Director of the Unification Analysis and Planning Group on the UniKorea Basis, the place he leads analysis tasks on North Korea, Korean unification, and the way forward for the Korean Peninsula, a postdoctoral fellowship program, and unification teaching programs for lecturers and elementary college college students, together with a joint initiative with World Imaginative and prescient. He additionally serves as an editor for Unification and the Future, the Basis’s information and evaluation platform. He has beforehand served in advisory and overview capacities for establishments together with the Ministry of Unification, the Nationwide Middle for Unification Training, the Nationwide Unification Advisory Council, and the Federation of Korean Industries. He holds an MA in North Korean Research (unification coverage) from Korea College and a B.A. in South Slavic Research and European Union Research from Hankuk College of International Research and is a former first lieutenant within the Republic of Korea Military.
Yeji Kim is a Korea researcher and human rights advocate who advises NGOs, governments, and monitoring our bodies on DPRK coverage and accountability. She is an incoming DPhil pupil on the College of Oxford, the place she additionally accomplished an MSc in Refugee and Compelled Migration Research. She has supported the resettlement of greater than 1,300 North Korean refugees, and her analysis examines the transnational motion of cash and data between the North Korean diaspora and North Korea, and the usage of abroad labour as a supply of state income.
JooEun ‘June’ Lee is an MA pupil in North Korean Research at Ewha Womans College. Her analysis examines the implications of synthetic intelligence and superior applied sciences for North Korea and safety on the Korean Peninsula. She focuses particularly on how the AI-nuclear nexus reshapes North Korea’s nuclear risk panorama, alongside how the regime introduces and frames these rising applied sciences for its residents. Her broader pursuits span North Korean politics, regime stability, and regional safety. Moreover, June serves as a specialist lecturer for South Korea’s Ministry of Nationwide Protection, delivering lectures to service members throughout the armed forces on the North Korean regime, the Korean Folks’s Military, and modern safety challenges.
Willem Licht is a coverage advisor specializing in the intersection between expertise and safety in East Asia with a particular curiosity within the DPRK. Based mostly in The Netherlands, he’s enthusiastic about advancing European understanding of the Korean peninsula. Willem holds a grasp’s diploma in Chemistry from the College of Oxford and subsequently undertook additional research in physics previous to leveraging his scientific background as a coverage advisor.”
Anton Ponomarenko is a China–Russia–DPRK safety researcher targeted on the army and technological dimensions of the CRINK axis and their implications for Indo-Pacific and Korean Peninsula safety. He’s a Summer season 2026 Analysis Fellow at U.S. Military T2COM G2, the place he contributes to the DPRK-Russia dimension of the CRINK venture, a Non-Resident Fellow on the European Centre for North Korean Research (ECNK), a 2026 Kim Koo Fellow at The Korea Society, and a 2024 Sylff Fellow on the Tokyo Basis for Coverage Analysis. He has beforehand held analysis and coverage roles on the United Nations DPPA-DPO and The Korea Society. Anton’s evaluation and analysis on North Korea have been printed in Struggle on the Rocks, 38 North, The Diplomat, and the Lowy Institute. He holds a Grasp’s in Regional Research: East Asia from Columbia College and a BA in Economics from Fudan College, with over 16 years of lived expertise in China and South Korea, and advanced-level and native language proficiency in Mandarin Chinese language, Russian, and Ukrainian.
This program is made doable by means of the beneficiant assist of the Henry Luce Basis.
