Elena Kim

Elena is pursuing her master's in International Policy at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, specializing in governance, development, and the rule of law. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the University of Southern California, where she focused on international human rights law, migration and refugee studies, and U.S. immigration policy. Elena is a magna cum laude graduate and has been recognized with honor society member, student and educator distinction awards, and legislative commendations.​

She has interned with various human rights organizations, publishing research and collaborating with high-level stakeholders, including the UN Human Rights Rapporteur, the U.S. Special Envoy on North Korean Human Rights, and South Korea’s Ambassador for International Cooperation on North Korean Human Rights. Her work centered on North Korean human rights and refugee policy.​
At Stanford, Elena’s research focuses on authoritarian regime politics, foreign policy dynamics among Russia, China, and North Korea, and inter-Korean relations. As a Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) fellow and research assistant at the Stanford New Asia Policy Lab, she works on projects involving transnational power, migration, and qualitative research, including multilingual qualitative research in Korean and Mandarin.​

She is fluent in Korean and Mandarin Chinese, and she received an award at a Chinese singing contest at USC.