Dr. Jung H. Pak was Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. During her tenure at State, she was responsible for overseeing relations with Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands (2023-2024); deepening and expanding U.S. relationship with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and related fora (2021-2023); and leading on Global China issues (2021-2022), developing new initiatives and strengthening collaboration with key foreign interlocutors.  She concurrently served as U.S. Deputy Special Representative for North Korea from 2021-2023 and as the top U.S. official on North Korea policy from 2023-2024.

Prior to arriving at State, Dr. Pak was a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, where she focused on Korean Peninsula issues, East Asia regional dynamics, and transnational threats related to proliferation, cybersecurity, and climate change. While at Brookings, she authored Becoming Kim Jong Un, which has been translated into multiple languages and draws from her deep knowledge and experience as an intelligence officer.

Pak has held senior positions at the Central Intelligence Agency, receiving several awards for contributions to the President’s Daily Brief, superior analytic accomplishments, and service to advance workforce development. As the Deputy National Intelligence Officer for Korea at the National Intelligence Council, she helped to lead the U.S. Intelligence Community’s production of strategic analysis. Before her career in national security, Dr. Pak taught U.S. history in New York City. She received her PhD from Columbia University and studied in South Korea as a Fulbright Scholar. Her insights and commentary have been featured in dozens of major print and broadcast media, including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Financial Times, and Foreign Affairs, and has appeared multiple times on Face the Nation, This Week with George Stephanopoulos, PBS News Hour, and Fareed Zakaria GPS. 

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