Welcome! I am an Assistant Professor in the Truman School of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Missouri, Columbia. 

My main research interests are successor parties and the consequences of authoritarian rule in new democracies, with a regional focus on Korea and the Asia-Pacific. In my book project, I use an original dataset to study how some pro-democracy movements, leaders, or groups that previously opposed authoritarian rule succeed in building durable political parties and win in nationwide elections, while many others dissolve or decline shortly after a country's democratic transition. In another project, I study whether and under what conditions the electoral success of these surviving opposition successor parties (OSPs) are likely to contribute to the resilience of the country's democracy as well as political polarization. In other works, I use longitudinal surveys to analyze trends of political polarization as well as micro-level data to study factors that shape various forms of political opposition under autocratic rule.

I received a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, San Diego (2025), M.A. in Political Science & International Relations from Korea University (2019), and B.A. in Political Science & International Relations and Economics from Korea University (2017). In my free time, I enjoy swimming as well as exploring new music and surrealist artwork.