Hyung-A Kim is Associate Professor of Korean Politics and History at the School of Culture, History, and Language, The Australian National University. Kim’s research focuses on Korea's contemporary politics and society, with specific interests in the role of the state and the power elite, as well as the politics of networking. Kim authored ‘Korean Skilled Workers: Toward A Labor Aristocracy’ and ‘Korea's Development under Park Chung Hee: Rapid Industrialization 1961-1979’. Kim served as the founding-director of the Australia-Korea Leadership Forum at the ANU and held a position as a distinguished professor in the Department of Sociology at Yonsei University, South Korea.