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Darcie Draudt, Ph.D.
darciedraudt@gmail.com
Postdoctoral Fellow
Princeton University
About Me:
Dr. Darcie Draudt is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. A political scientist and policy analyst, Dr. Draudt publishes regular commentary on South and North Korean domestic politics and foreign policy, Northeast Asian relations, and US-Korea policy. She holds a PhD in Political Science from the Johns Hopkins University, an MA in Korean Studies from the Yonsei University Graduate School of International Studies, and an AB with Honors in Anthropology from Davidson College.
Research Interests
Korean Politics
North Korea
East Asia
Foreign Policy
Foreign Policy Analysis
US Foreign Policy
Japan-South Korea
Immigration & Citizenship
Comparative Public Policy
Immigration Policy
Gender and Politics
Countries of Interest
North Korea
South Korea
My Research:
Why do states extend greater rights and privileges to certain immigrants while restricting the rights and residency of others? My book, tentatively titled Immigration Policymaking and National Development in South Korea, addresses a central question in studies of immigration and citizenship. I argue that states target immigrants at the group level to address urgent economic and social issues and circumvent the need for costly structural policy changes using the case of contemporary South Korea.Adopting an ethnographic approach to data production, I conducted over ten months of fieldwork between June 2017 and December 2019. My orignal data draws from participant observation, policy analysis, and interviews with more than sixty policy actors in the Seoul metropolitan area and the administrative capital Sejong City.
Media Appearances:
TV Appearances:
Darcie Draudt - May 22, 2018 Appearance on Bloomberg's Daybreak Asia on prospects for US-North Korea summit, following Trump-Moon summit in DC
Darcie Draudt - June 10, 2018 Appearance on Arirang News (South Korea) prior to historic summit between Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump in Singapore.
Newspaper Quotes:
Korean LGBT+ groups suffer homophobic backlash over outbreak By Edward White Darcie Draudt, a Korea researcher at Johns Hopkins University, said the vitriol levelled at the LGBT+ community was indicative of widespread discrimination in Korean society. Much of it, she said, stemmed from politically powerful evangelical Christian groups as well as pressure to adhere to conservative family models. Apart from discrimination at their workplaces and threats of violence, there was also a “huge threat” of suicides among LGBT+ members, Ms Draudt said.
A Year After Singapore, Prospects for Trump-Kim Breakthrough Look Bleak By William Gallo June 12, 2019 08:20 AM "I think it's exactly where we were a year ago," said Darcie Draudt, a North Korea researcher and visiting scholar at Seoul's Yonsei University. "It's the actual day-to-day interactions, the on-the-ground, mid-level exchanges that are really going to do the work. And we really haven't seen that."
Darcie Draudt on President Moon’s 2-Year Anniversary (Magazine Interview) How is South Korea’s Moon Jae-in faring two years into his presidency? To evaluate where Moon’s administration stands nearly halfway through his single term, The Diplomat spoke to Darcie Draudt, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Political Science at the Johns Hopkins University who is currently based in Seoul as a visiting scholar at the Yonsei University Department of Political Science, about the state of South Korean politics, inter-Korean relations, and political and economic reforms.
North Korean media cheer Trump-Kim meeting By Edward White “Until those technical, nuanced, step-by-step processes are an active part of the discussion then it is going to remain in a stalemate. The unfortunate thing right now is that Trump doesn’t seem to include that as a big part of his summitry,” said Darcie Draudt, a Seoul-based researcher at Johns Hopkins University.
Xi Jinping to meet Kim Jong Un in North Korea By Edward White and Christian Shepherd Darcie Draudt, a Seoul-based researcher at the Johns Hopkins University, said Mr Xi’s visit marked “a big change for North Korea” after Mr Kim in 2018 pursued new channels with Seoul and Washington.
North Korea is setting the mood for a summit with Trump. And that is progress. By Anna Fifield “Kim Jong Un feels empowered to sit at the same table as Donald Trump precisely because the United States does understand the extent of its weapons capabilities,” said Darcie Draudt, a North Korea researcher at Johns Hopkins University. “Moon is eager to ratchet down tensions with the North and increase humanitarian exchanges, and Trump is eager to make a deal,” Draudt said.
Can North Korea Handle a K-Pop Invasion? By Motoko Rich and Su-Hyun Lee “Everything from their costumes to the choreography will be part of the performance negotiations,” said Darcie Draudt, a nonresident Korean studies fellow at the Honolulu-based Pacific Forum at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The Best Books About North Korea, According to Authors and Historians By Katy Schneider (various quotes)
Pyongyang’s pop queens stage comeback By Eric Talmadge “North Korea has a history of regime-supported arts that in both content and form serve the state,” said Darcie Draudt, a North Korea analyst and contributor the Sino-NK website. “Kim Jong Il had a special interest in the film industry, and saw it as a powerful ideological weapon in service of the revolution. He also formed the Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble in 1983, which combined electronic instruments with traditional Korean music.”
Other:
SOUTH KOREA AS A LIBERAL DEMOCRACY (26 min. podcast interview) “In 2016 and 2017, the world was witness to millions of Koreans rallying to oust then-president Park Geun-hye who faced allegations of corruption and influence peddling. The so-called Candlelight movement succeeded and a progressive administration under Moon Jae-in assumed the mandate after the impeachment. For a little bit, South Korea appeared to be a global outlier. “However, all is not well - there are simmering tensions when it comes to issues like gender equality and the resettlement of refugees from the Middle East. Is South Korea perhaps not an outlier after all? More broadly, is South Korea living up to the ideals of liberal democracy? “Darcie Draudt assesses the health of South Korea’s democracy by examining the evolution of the country’s conception of citizenship and what groups are excluded in the current social contract.” — Korea Kontext, the Korea Economic Institute’s podcast (November 2019)
IDENTITY AND MULTICULTURALISM IN NORTH AND SOUTH KOREA (52-min. podcast interview) “Unification has been a primary ethos of both South and North Korean identity since the peninsula was split in two, a sine qua non of a shared ‘minjok’ bloodline that stretches back (accordingly) 5000 years. “But what was once self-evident for South Koreans is no longer so, particularly among younger, more diverse, more metropolitan South Koreans that seek and appreciate community and connections beyond tribal ethnic dimensions. “About the podcast: The “North Korea News Podcast” is a weekly podcast hosted exclusively by NK News, covering all things DPRK: from news to extended interviews with leading experts and analysts in the field and insight from our very own journalists.” — NKNews Podcast (October 2019)
MULTICULTURALISM AND KOREAN NATIONAL IDENTITY (53-min. podcast interview) "Darcie’s research comprises US-Northeast Asian relations and Korean identity and multiculturalism, and we spend a lot of time on what it means to be Korean today and how the country is grappling with internationalism and growing migration, and how that forces a reconciliation of sorts with traditional – or lets say, conventional – Korean values and perceptions of self.” — Settlers of Seoul podcast (July 2019) 03:51 what is multiculturalism in Korea? 09:21 intrinsic vs external causes for embracing multiculturalism 13:08 preferred migration in Korea 16:35 Korean ethnonationalism vs worldwide national identities 22:01 balancing tradition with liberal values 25:33 foreigner integration in Korea 29:36 the North Korea factor on diversity in Korea 32:01 the North Korea debate 36:51 on working in foreign policy and international security as a woman 40:32 rapid-fire round + extended discussion on multiculturalism and national identity