Profile

Dr. Cheol Hee Park is a Special Advisor at IHJ and Professor Emeritus at Seoul National University. Before Joining the IHJ, he served as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Korea to Japan (2024-2025). He also served as Chancellor of the Korea National Diplomatic Academy(KNDA), which is an educational and research organ within the Korean Foreign Ministry.
He had been a long-time professor at the Graduate School of International Studies (GSIS) at Seoul National University (2004-2023). At Seoul National University, he assumed several key positions, including Director of Institute for Japanese Studies (2012-2016), Dean of the GSIS (2016-2018), and Director of Institute of International Affairs (2019-2023). Before joining a faculty at Seoul National University, he was an Assistant Professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) in Japan (1999-2002) and the Institute for Foreign Affairs and National Security (2002-2004).

In his personal capacity, Dr. Park served as President of the Korean Association for Contemporary Japanese Studies in 2017. He is a Co-Founder of the East Asia Consortium of Japanese Studies since 2016. Dr. Park worked as a board member at several think-tanks, including Asan Institute for Policy Studies, Sejong Foundation, East Asia Foundation, and Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation. He also served as a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Atlantic Council. He was a visiting professor at Columbia University, University of Tokyo, Keio University, Kobe University, and Nankai University.
Dr. Park acquired Ph.D. degree at Columbia University in the City of New York, after obtaining B.A. and M.A. at the political science department at Seoul National University.