Myung Jung Kim * First name pronounced like 'young' with 'M' (Myung) and 'young' with 'J' (Jung) 

Welcome! I am an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Iowa. I specialize in international relations, particular in the intersection of international law and armed conflict. 

My research is motivated by a central observation: impunity is a primary driver of recurring mass crimes and violence. I focus on three broad questions: 

(1) How international and domestic laws evolve and influence the war behavior of state and rebel actors and affect conflict processes and outcomes.

(2) When actors face or evade punishment for crimes committed during conflict.

(3) How international organizations, civil society, and external actors shape these legal and conflict processes.

My broader work explores transborder conflict and legal dynamics, including rebel leader exile, extradition, universal jurisdiction, and external sponsorship. My research has been published or is forthcoming in the Journal of Conflict Resolution. My work on rebel leader exile received the 2025 Best Paper Award from the International Law and Social Sciences Group of the American Society of International Law. I was also a 2023-24 USIP-Minerva Peace and Security Scholar at the United States Institute of Peace. 

I hold a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, an M.A. in International Relations from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and a B.S. in Economics, with a minor in Statistics, from Purdue University. Prior to academia, I was a research associate at the Korea Institute of National Unification.