Victor Cha

Dr. Victor Cha joined CSIS in May 2009 as Senior Adviser and the Inaugural Holder of the Korea Chair. He is also Director of Asian Studies Program and holds the D.S. Song-KF Chair in the Department of Government and School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. From 2004 to 2007, he served as Director for Asian Affairs at the White House on the National Security Council (NSC), where he was responsible primarily for Japan, the Korean Peninsula, Australia/New Zealand, and Pacific Island nations’ affairs. Dr. Cha was also the Deputy Head of Delegation for the United States at the Six-Party Talks in Beijing and received two Outstanding Service Commendations during his tenure at the NSC. He is the award-winning author of Alignment Despite Antagonism: The United States-Korea-Japan Security Triangle (Stanford University Press, 1999); Nuclear North Korea: A Debate on Engagement Strategies (Columbia University Press, 2003); and The Impossible State: North Korea, Past and Future (Ecco, 2012). Dr. Cha holds a B.A., M.I.A., and a Ph.D. from Columbia University, as well as an M.A. from Oxford University.