Research

Southeast Asia and China:  Asymmetry in Power and Economic Interdependence

2025 "Reassessing China’s Economic Power in Southeast Asia during the 2010s: Insights from the Nexus of FDI-driven Manufacturing and GVC Trade." Asia Europe Journal. [Link to Article]

2025. "Types of Geoeconomic Power and Competition over Myanmar Before and During the Reform Era of the 2010s." The Journal of Asian and African Studies. 60(1): 324-339. [Link to Article]

2024. “Assessing Myanmar’s Trade Dependence on China during the Reform Period of the 2010s: A Sectoral Value Chain Approach” The Pacific Review  37(2): 277-300. Online Appendix

2023. “Vietnam’s Economic Dependence on China: Understanding Vulnerability through a Typology of Trade Shocks.” In The Dragon’s Underbelly: Dynamics and Dilemmas in Vietnam’s Economy and Politics, , eds. Nhu Truong and Tuong Vu. Singapore: ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute.

2022. "The Vulnerability Effect That Wasn’t: Trade Dependence on China and Decisions on Entry Ban at the  Beginning of the COVID-19 Pandemic" Asian Survey 62(4): 721–750.  Online Appendix.

2021. "Southeast Asian Public Perceptions of China: Clusters and Gaps." The Korean Journal of International Studies. 19(3): 377-403. 

2021. 『일대일로 구상과 인도태평양 전략의 지정학적 경쟁과 동남아시아: AOIP의 의의와 한계』("US-China Strategic Competition in East Asia and ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific)" 국제·지역연구 (Review of International and Area Studies) 30(1): 77-106 (in Korean)

2020. “The Patterns of State-Firm Coordination in China’s Private Sector Internationalization: China’s Mergers and Acquisitions in Southeast Asia.” (with Suyeon No). The Pacific Review 33(6): 873-899.

2018 “Power Asymmetry and Threat Points: Negotiating China’s Infrastructure Development in Southeast Asia.” Review of International Political Economy 25(4): 530-552.

2018 『중국의 부상에 대한 동남아 대응: 경제적 손익 요인의 재검토』(“Southeast Asia’s Responses to the Rise of China: Rethinking Economic Factors").  동서연구 (East and West Studies) 30(1): 83-110. (in Korean)

Southeast Asia and South Korea

2024. “A Key Partner Only Now? The Present-Centredness in Korea’s Views of its Economic Relations with Southeast Asia.” Asian Affairs 55(2): 243–262.  

          Common public narratives in South Korea note that “Southeast Asia has recently emerged as its key economic partner.” Yet, these accounts are typically presented only with recent economic statistics and are largely devoid of context or nuance. In particular, they lack consideration of historical references, creating the impression that Korea-Southeast Asia ties are only a “recent” development. This “presentist” tendency is not only ahistorical in itself, but it may also produce a misleading appreciation of South Korea’s relations with Southeast Asia. By reviewing statistical information relevant to Southeast Asia’s economic importance to South Korea, particularly in trade and foreign direct investment, this article shows that SE Asia became Korea’s top economic partner at a much early point in time. It also discusses the factors that may have contributed to the popularity of such a presentist view in the public conscience.

2023. “Change or Continuity? Seoul’s Approach to Southeast Asia under the New Southern Policy.” Korea Observer 54(1):103-126. 

        South Korea's New Southern Policy (NSP) is commonly viewed as Seoul's hedging strategy to respond to intensifying US-China strategic competition. Such a view essentially takes an extrinsic approach treating Southeast Asia as a means to South Korea's larger foreign policy ends. However, the NSP can also be viewed as Seoul's Southeast Asia policy, which is about its relations with the region. Such an intrinsic perspective leads to the question of whether the NSP constitutes a clear policy shift. I propose using two distinct frameworks which are centered on resources and assumptions to assess whether the NSP represents change or continuity in Seoul's approach to Southeast Asia. The findings suggest that the NSP represents a dramatic change in terms of resources devoted to its engagement with Southeast Asia, but Seoul's Southeast Asia policy has remained unchanged in terms of the underlying assumptions about the nature of its relations with the region.

Myanmar and the Philippines: Ethnic Politics, Oligarchic Rule and Migration

2023. "The Philippines in 2022: The Power of Dynastic Politics" Asian Survey 63(2): 301–310.

2016 “Migrant Remittances and Electoral Accountability: The Case of the Philippines.” The Korean Journal of International Studies 14 (2): 339-367.

2016 “Oligarchic Rule and Best Practice Migration Management: the Political Economy Origins of Labor Migration Regime of the Philippines.” Contemporary Politics 22 (2): 197-214.

2014 “International Migration and Economic Assessments in the Philippines.” The Southeast Asian Review, 24(4): 33-63.

2014. “Life Satisfaction of the Families of Migrants in the Philippines.” Asian and Pacific Migration Journal. 23(3): 249-271 

2014. “Does Migration Promote Democracy at Home? Social Remittances and Democratic Attitudes in the Philippines” Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies 21(3): 119-142.

2014. “Identity Politics outside Conflict Zones: Karen Identity Development in Central Myanmar during the Pre-Reform Era.” East Asian Studies: The Journal of Institute for East Asian Studies, 33(1): 203-236.

 2011. “Governance Concerns and Migration Intentions: A Study of Potential Filipino Migrants” The Southeast Asian Review, 21(2): 183-216.

Foreign Aid

2020 “Chinese Development Aid to Asia: Size and Motives.” Asian Journal of Comparative Politics 5(3): 223–234. 

2016 “Measuring Aid Fragmentation at Aggregate and Project Levels: Donor Proliferation, Diseconomies of Scale, and Administrative Burden.” Korean Journal of International Relations 56 (1): 81-109. (in Korean)