Yong-Chool Ha

Korea Foundation Professor of Korean Social Science, Jackson School of International Studies

Dr. Yong-Chool Ha joined the University of Washington as a Visiting Professor in 2004, and was formally welcomed as a faculty member of the Jackson School in 2008. Prior to joining UW, Professor Ha was a Visiting Professor at UC Berkeley in 2004, and a Professor of Political Science at Seoul National University beginning in 1986. He has received well over a dozen grants for various research projects, and chairs, directs, or is a member of government and university committees and commissions.

Dr. Ha has edited or co-authored many books in Korean and English, including New Perspectives on International Studies in Korea, Russia’s Choice at the Crossroads, and Global Standards and Identity in Korean Society. He has also published countless articles for academic journals and conferences. His latest book, Late Industrialization, Tradition, and Social Change in South Korea, was released by UW Press in February 2024.

Ha’s primary academic interests address comparative politics and society with a particular focus on late industrializing nations (Korea, Japan, Prussia, China and the Soviet Union), Soviet and Russian politics, Russian Far East, Korean domestic and international politics, inter-Korean Relations and East Asian regional politics, and international theories in East Asia.

Dr. Ha teaches undergraduate and graduate-level international relations and political science courses.