Ramon Pacheco Pardo is Professor of International Relations at King’s College London and the KF-VUB Korea Chair at the Brussels School of Governance of Vrije Universiteit Brussel. He is also King's Regional Envoy for East and South East Asia, helping to shape and implement the university's strategy for the region.

Prof Pacheco Pardo is also Adjunct Fellow (Non-Resident) with the Korea Chair at CSIS, Scientific Council member at Elcano Royal Institute, Steering Committee member at CSCAP EU, Advisory Committee member at Jeju Forum and Advisory Committee member at the Reset Korea Campaign of JoongAng Ilbo. He has held visiting positions at Korea University, the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and Melbourne University.

His publications include the books North Korea: Survival of a Political Dynasty (Agenda Publishing, 2024), Korea: A New History of South & North (Yale University Press, 2023; with Victor Cha), South Korea's Grand Strategy: Making Its Own Destiny (Columbia University Press, 2023), Shrimp to Whale: South Korea from the Forgotten War to K-Pop (Hurst and Oxford University Press, 2022) and North Korea-US Relations from Kim Jong Il to Kim Jong Un (Routledge, 2019).

Prof Pacheco Pardo has participated in track 1.5 and 2 dialogues with China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea and the United States. He has testified before the European Parliament and consulted and advised NATO, the OECD and the governments of Canada, the EU, South Korea, Spain, the UK and the United States as well as several private firms, among others. Prof Pacheco Pardo is a regular columnist with JoongAng Ilbo. He is also a frequent media commentator on North East Asian and affairs and Europe-East Asia and Europe-Indo-Pacific relations.

Research

• International relations, security and political economy of the Korean Peninsula, East Asia and the Indo-Pacific.
• Diplomatic, security and economic relations between Europe and the Korean Peninsula, East Asia and the Indo-Pacific.

For more information on specific research projects, contact Prof Pacheco Pardo directly.

Teaching

Prof Pacheco Pardo currently teaches modules on global politics and the political economy of East Asia.

In the past he has also taught courses on EU-Asia relations, international political economy, the international relations of the Asia-Pacific, introduction to politics, and Spanish politics, among others.

Expertise and public engagement

Prof Pacheco Pardo is a Steering Committee Member of CSCAP EU, a group of European experts on contemporary Asia-Pacific affairs drawn from academia and research institutions, together with relevant officials from the EEAS. The role of CSCAP EU is to provide informed expertise on the region to CSCAP, the Asia-Pacific’s premier track-2 forum, and for European scholars and policy practitioners to collaborate.

Prof Pacheco Pardo has also been part of EU, Spain and UK delegations to dialogues with South Korea, North Korea, China and Japan. He has also testified on Korean and Asian affairs before the European Parliament on several occasions.

In addition, Prof Pacheco Pardo is a frequent media contributor, having been interviewed by Agence France-Presse, Al Jazeera English, Asharq Al-Awsat, Associated Press, BBC (radio and TV), Bloomberg, Cadena SER, Chosun Ilbo, CNN, El Pais, Financial Times, France 24, JoongAng Ilbo, Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, Nikkei Asian Review, Reuters, Sky News, South China Morning Post, The Economist, The Korea Times, The Strait Times, The Times, TVE, Voice of America (radio and TV), The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and Yonhap, among many others. He is also a regular contributor to Arirang TV and a regular columnist for JoongAng Ilbo.

He is happy to talk about East Asian, Europe-East Asian, and global economic and political affairs.

Further details

See Ramon's research profile