About
Woohyeok Seo is a PhD candidate in International Relations (IR) at LSE, funded by the Kwanjeong Educational Foundation. His doctoral research examines the relationship between discourse of nuclear technology and collective memories of nuclear violence. His broad academic interests span (Critical) Security Studies, Science and Technology Studies, Memory Studies, and Historical IR.
Woohyeok currently serves as the PGR Officer for the BISA Global Nuclear Order (GNO) Working Group (2025–2026). He has held multiple editorial roles at Millennium: Journal of International Studies, serving as Associate Editor (Vol. 54), Editor (Vol. 53), and Deputy Editor (Vol. 52).
Prior to starting his PhD, Woohyeok worked as a political researcher at the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in the United States (2018-2021). He also participated in the Wilson Center’s North Korea International Documentation Project in Washington DC (2014-5).
Woohyeok holds a BA in Political Science and International Studies from Yonsei University in Seoul, an MA in International Security (with concentrations in East Asia and Human Rights) from Sciences Po Paris, and an MSc in IR (Research) from LSE.
Research topic
Becoming (Un)nuclear: (De)politicizing Collective Memories of Nuclear Violence in Postwar Japan and South Korea (1945-1975)
Woohyeok’s research explores how nuclear technology has politicised and depoliticised collective memories of nuclear violence in post-war Japan and South Korea since 1945. By examining the role of nuclear technology in politically invoking and silencing memories of nuclear violence – ranging from the 1945 Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings to the 1954 Bikini and subsequent nuclear tests – he identifies distinct mechanisms through which discourses of nuclear technology politicised and depoliticised memories of nuclear violence in Tokyo and Seoul. His project draws on multi-lingual fieldwork in both countries, including archival research at administrative and legislative archives and interviews with survivor groups. His work contributes to the intersections of Memory Studies, Critical Security Studies, and Nuclear Studies.
Teaching Experience
IR205 International Security (LSE) 2023/24
Academic supervisor
Research Cluster affiliation
Theory/Area/History Research Cluster
Security and Statecraft Cluster
Expertise
Memory; Nuclear Weapons and Technology; (Critical) Security Studies; Historical IR; Science and Technology Studies; Northeast Asia
Publications
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