Center for International Security Studies

1. About

The Center for International Security Studies (CISS) focuses on research related to military security threats and policy instruments. CISS aims to produce high quality social science research publications and to cultivate outstanding scholars in the field.

Current research agendas

1. Nuclear Proliferation

• Conditions determining the success of nonproliferation efforts. Policies to address nuclear proliferation threats.

2. Asymmetric Alliances

• Inner workings of asymmetric alliances. Asymmetric alliances and nuclear restraint. The effect of asymmetric alliances on international political stability.

3. Military Strategy

• Nuclear strategies of new nuclear states.

 

2. Members

Director : Dong Sun Lee (Professor, Department of Political Science and International Relations, Korea University)

Researchers

• Ji Hye Shin (Researcher, Peace & Democracy Institute, Korea University)
• Sangsoo Lim (Researcher, Peace & Democracy Institute, Korea University)

Research Assistants

• Eunbi Lee (Ph.D Candidate, Department of Political Science and International Relations, Korea University)

 

3. Projects

• March 2024 ~ Present: Woodang Security Studies Colloquium
• September 2020 ~ February 2024: Soodang Security Studies Colloquium
• May 2023 ~ December 2023: [Ministry of Unification] Organizer of Korea Global Forum 2023
• April 2022 ~ August 2022: [Korea Institute for National Unification] “A Survey of Perceptions of Domestic Experts to Identify and Evaluate North Korean Nuclear Challenges”

Part of the Woodang Colloquium Program, the Woodang Security Studies Colloquium provides an opportunity for junior scholars to receive constructive feedback on their ongoing research and interact with established experts in the field of international security.

 

4. Publications

• Dong Sun Lee, Sangsoo Lim. 2025. “Unipolar Hangover and American Offshore Leadership: Systemic Causes and Consequences of the Ukraine and Gaza Wars.” The Korean Journal of International Studies 23(1): 1-30
• Dong Sun Lee, Sunwoo Paek. 2025. “South Korean Foreign Policy Signalling: The Rise and Fall of Unreciprocated Costly Signals between 2013 and 2023.” British Journal of Politics and International Relations 27(1): 91-108.
• Dong Sun Lee, Iordanka Alexandrova. 2025. Nuclear Alliance Restraint: Success and Failure in Countering Allied Proliferators (London and New York: Routledge).
• Sangsoo Lim. 2023. “How Nationalism Strengthens Military Effectiveness: The Case of Japanese Nationalism in the Russo-Japanese War 1904-05.” The Journal of Asiatic Studies 67(4): 313-343
• Dong Sun Lee, Iordanka Alexandrova. 2024. “Military Power for a Unified Korea: Strategic Directions and Principles for Building Effective Defense Forces.” International Journal of Korean Unification Studies 33(2): 47-84.
• Sangsoo Lim. 2023. “Stability-Instability Paradox and Korean Peninsula: How Nuclear Deterrence Can Lead to Inter-Korean Limited Conflicts.” Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies 30(3): 5-33
• Sangsoo Lim. 2023. “The Normative Origins of the Three Non-Nuclear Principles: Opposition to Nuclear Weapons in Japan During the 1950s and 60s.” East Asian Studies 42(2): 41-72
• Inwook Kim, Seung Joon Paik. 2023. From Balance of Terror to Balance of Prudence: A Theoretical Analysis for Nuclear Arms Control Between the U.S. and North Korea. Korean Political Science Review 57(2): 33-58.
• Sunwoo Paek, Dong Sun Lee. 2023. The American Success to Denuclearise South Korea: Global Bipolarity, Geographical Remoteness, and Nuclear Alliance Restraint. Diplomacy & Statecraft 34(1): 30-56.
• Sangsoo Lim. 2022. Europe Divided: How Different Threat Perception Towards Russia Inhibits Military Integration In Europe. Journal of Social Science 48(3): 141-163.
• Dong Sun Lee, Iordanka Alexandrova, Seung Joon Paik et al. 2022. The Challenges of North Korea’s Nuclear Program and International Cooperation. KINU Research Series 22-16. Korea Institute for National Unification.
• Seongwon Gwon, Iordanka Alexandrova. 2022. “The End of Intervention: Explaining the Decisions on US Troops Withdrawals from Afghanistan and Iraq.” The Journal of International Relations 25(4): 27-57.
• Iordanka Alexandrova, Sunwoo Paek. 2022. “Soviet/Russian Nuclear Strategy, 1950-2020.” Korean Journal of International Relations 62(3): 43-82.
• Sung-Yoon Chung, Juhwa Park, Dong Sun Lee, Iordanka Alexandrova, Seung Joon Paik. 2022. 2022 북핵 도전요인 전문가 인식조사. KINU Insight 2022-02. Seoul: Korean Institute of National Unification.
• Iordanka Alexandrova. Sunwoo Paik. 2022. “The Role of Russia in the Korean Peninsula Peace Regime.” The Korean Journal of International Studies 20(1): 149-174.
• Seung Joon Paik, Soul Park. 2022. “Draining the Sea with Discretion: Force Integration and Civilian Displacement during South Korean Counter-insurgency Operations, 1948-1953.” Journal of Strategic Studies 45: 2022(6-7).
• Sunwoo Paek. 2022. “Alliance Dilemma of US Allies in US-China 5G Network War.”Journal of Asiatic Studies 65(1): 313-339.
  
• Dong Sun Lee, Iordanka Alexandrova. 2021. “North Korean Nuclear Strategy: Envisioning Assured Retaliation.” International Relations of the Asia-Pacific 21(3): 371-400.
• Dong Sun Lee, Sunwoo Paek. 2021. “Arms Race in East Asia.” Peace Studies on the Korean Peninsula in the 21st Century: Issues and Prospects (Paju: Hanul Academy): 145-171.
• Sunwoo Paek. 2021. “With Whom to Share? Pakistan, North Korea, and Chinese Sensitive Nuclear Assistance.” Journal of International and Area Studies 28(1): 21-38.
• Sunwoo Paek. 2020. “Discouraging the Bomb: U.S. Counterproliferation Success against Libya.” The Korean Journal of International Studies 18(3): 197-214.
• Sung Eun Choi, Iordanka Alexandrova. 2020. “The Stable Peace between France and Germany: The Role of the United States.” Journal of International Politics 25(2): 253-289.
• Dong Sun Lee, Iordanka Alexandrova, and Yihei Zhao. 2020. “The Chinese Failure to Disarm North Korea: Geographical Proximity, U.S. Unipolarity, and Alliance Restraint.” Contemporary Security Policy 41(4): 587-609.