I’m currently a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Political Science at Vanderbilt University.

I study the political economy of conflict, with a focus on organized crime. My reserach examines the economic factors that influence the dynamics of criminal violence and the impact of criminal actors on politics and society, drawing on multiple geographical contexts. Specifically, I am interested in various economic factors, including the domestic and international fluctuations in both legitimate and illegitimate commodity markets and employment.

My disseration examines the relationship between illicit economic activities and criminal violence, and its impact on the political arrangement between a government and organized crime groups. I develop a formal model that explains the logic of the government’s response toward the criminal group and provide the evidence using a case study of Asian organized crime groups. Additionally, I empirically test the theoretical predictions in the Candian context.

I received an M.A. in Political Science from Vanderbilt University in 2019 and a B.A. in Political Science and Economics from Sogang University, South Korea, in 2017.