Education

Awards and Grants

Research Interests

• International Relations (IR) of Korea/East Asia
• Inter-Korean Sports Diplomacy and (Re-)Unification Policy
• East Germany-North Korea Relations and Cultural Diplomacy
• Cold War History, Inter-Authoritarian Diplomacy and Socialist Internationalism

PhD Project

Provisional Title: Peripheral Partners – The Dynamics of Cooperation Among Smaller States in the Socialist Bloc through the North Korea-East Germany Relations (1949-1989)

This research aims to examine the relationship between North Korea and East Germany from 1949 to 1989 by analysing how both states developed their cooperation through diplomatic and cultural exchanges. This study will explore the strategic intentions behind these interactions, focusing on the limits of ideological alignment and the role of cultural diplomacy as a tool for fostering solidarity among smaller socialist states. The guiding question is how North Korea and East Germany structured and implemented their diplomatic and cultural relations within the socialist bloc, and what this might reveal about the dynamics of cooperation of smaller socialist states at the periphery of the Cold War.

Much of the existing Cold War literature focuses on the bipolar dynamics between the USA and the USSR, often neglecting the agency of smaller states amidst the conflict. This research challenges the superpower-centric narrative of Cold War diplomacy by focusing on the diplomatic activity of smaller socialist states like North Korea and East Germany, highlighting the complex and often independent strategies employed by these states within the socialist bloc. Furthermore, this study extends the concept of “socialist internationalism” beyond its traditional European focus, analysing how North Korea and East Germany adapted ideological solidarity to fit their unique geopolitical contexts. Amidst existing analyses of smaller states cooperating through “transnational relations”, the question remains whether the bilateral relations between these various states in the socialist bloc were shaped by an ideological alignment or by pure pragmatism. By analysing the DPRK-GDR relations, this research hopes to overcome the Eurocentric-focus in existing scholarship on socialist bloc relations and offers a transnational perspective on Cold War diplomacy.