Muchun Liao is a PhD Candidate in Politics in the Department of Political Economy at King’s College London. Her research focuses on North Korean foreign and security policy, inter-Korean relations, and Northeast Asian regional security, with particular interests in role theory and foreign policy analysis. She was previously a Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies in Seoul.

Research interests

• North Korean foreign and security policy
• Inter-Korean relations
• Role theory and foreign policy analysis
• China–North Korea relations
• Northeast Asian security and regional order

Doctoral research

Muchun’s doctoral research uses role theory to examine how the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) constructs and mobilises national role conceptions, and how these shape its policy toward the Republic of Korea (ROK) between 2012 and 2024. The project traces the interaction between role conceptions and foreign policy behaviour across key episodes in inter-Korean relations, and considers the implications for crisis dynamics and regional security in Northeast Asia.

PhD supervisors

Professor Ramon Pacheco Pardo and Dr Isabelle Hertner.

Latest publications

Liao, Muchun. 2025. “Expanded Capabilities, Calibrated Restraint: Regional Transformation and China’s Policy toward North Korea’s Nuclear Program.” Asian Security, pp. 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/14799855.2025.2603253