I am Professor in the Graduate School of Public Administration at Seoul National University (SNU). My research interests include East Asian political economy and maritime affairs.

I am the author of The Political Economy and Law of International Trade: Between Free Trade Ideals and Mercantilist Bias (2021, Parkyoungsa, in Korean) and Island Disputes and Maritime Regime Building in East Asia: Between a Rock and a Hard Place (2010, Springer) and the co-author of The Korean Government and Public Policies in a Development Nexus: Sustaining Development and Tackling Policy Changes – Volume 2 (Jongwon Choi and Huck-ju Kwon, 2010, Springer), The Korean Government and Public Policies in a Development Nexus – Volume 1 (with Huck-ju Kwon, 2013, Springer), and Asia’s New Institutional Architecture: Evolving Structures for Managing Trade, Financial, and Security Relations (with Vinod K. Aggarwal, 2008, Springer).

Aside from many book chapters, I have published his research in a wide range of journals, including Ocean Development & International Law, International Relations of the Asia-Pacific, The Pacific Review, Pacific Affairs, Asian Perspective, European Journal of East Asia Studies, and Journal of East Asian Studies.

From fall 2005 to spring 2007, I served as a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for International Studies and as a full-time lecturer in the School of International Relations at the University of Southern California. Prior to his move to SNU, I taught at Yonsei University in South Korea from fall 2007 to spring 2010. I also served as a 2015-2016 Visiting Scholar at the Harvard-Yenching Institute. My administrative services for Seoul National University include Associate Dean and Dean of International Affairs (August 2016 - February 2020) and Dean of Student Affairs (February 2021 - July 2021).

I hold a BA in Political Science/International Relations and an MA in Public Policy from SNU and an MA in International Relations from Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies. I received a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley in 2005. I can be reached at mgkoo@snu.ac.kr.