Suk-Young Kim

Professor Kim is an interdisciplinary scholar with doctoral degrees in Interdisciplinary Theatre and Drama (Northwestern University, 2005) and Slavic Language and Literature (Univ. of Illinois at Chicago, 2001). Her work primarily focuses on borderland performances, transmedia, entertainment industry, and the historical roots of today’s popular culture. She finds writing inspirations in illuminating beauty gleaned from dusty archives, live stages, and today’s vertiginous screen cultures. Unfamiliar landscapes and odd anachronisms also shape contours of her research. 

A large body of Professor Kim’s work explores the cultural history of the two Koreas: from the North Korean propaganda performances to K-pop, from cellphones in Pyongyang to K-drama productions in the age of streaming, her books situate the dynamic pulse of history at the heart of inquiry. Her future projects include ecolingustic history of the Korean Language Theater in Kazakhstan and the material legacies of the Russian Revolution seen through the blurring lines between theatrical costumes and everyday fashion. 

Her writings have appeared in English, Korean, Russian, Polish, and German languages. She was a visiting professor at Yonsei University, University of Bologna, and Arizona State University. Currently she serves as a member of the Hong Kong Research Grants Council and co-edits the Columbia University Press’ new book series Critical Voices from East Asia. Her commentary on Korean cultural politics has been featured in major media outlets, such as Billboard, NPR, NYT, WSJ, CNN and her opinion pieces have been published by the Los Angeles Times and NBC. In 2023, she was invited to serve as a judge for the MNET Asian Music Awards. Professor Kim previously taught at Dartmouth College and UC Santa Barbara. She was named a 2025 Guggenheim Fellow, a prestigious honor which recognizes her bold and impactful contributions to the field of Theatre Arts & Performance Studies.

Awards

• 2025 Guggenheim Fellowship
• 2016-21 Academy of Korean Studies Lab Grant
• 2015 Association for Theater in Higher Education Outstanding Book Awards
• 2013 Association for Asian Studies James Palais Book Prize
• 2024-15 ACLS/NEH International and Area Studies Fellowship
• 2006-06 Library of Congress Kluge Fellowship
• 2004 International Federation for Theater Research New Scholars Prize

Books

• Millennial North Korea: Forbidden Media and Living Creatively with Surveillance  (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2024)
• Surviving Squid Game: A Guide to K-Drama, Netflix and Global Streaming Wars (Applause Theatre and Cinema Books, 2023)
• The Cambridge Companion to K-Pop, editor (Cambridge University Press, 2023)
• K-Pop Live: Fans, Idols, and Multimedia Performance (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2018) Russian language edition Живой К-поп (АСТ: Москва, 2019)
• DMZ Crossing: Performing Emotional Citizenship Along the Korean Border (New York: Columbia University Press, 2014)
• Illusive Utopia: Theater, Film, and Everyday Performance in North Korea (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2010)
• Long Road Home: Testimony of a North Korean Camp Survivor, coauthored with Kim Yong (New York: Columbia University Press, 2009)

Video Lectures, Interviews and Op-Eds

• Op-ed: “The tragedy in Seoul” (Los Angeles Times, 2022)
• Op-ed: “Hollywood, take note, Korean pop culture is here to stay” (Los Angeles Times, 2022)
• Op-ed: “K-pop stans’ anti-Trump, Black Lives Matter activism” (NBC News, 2020)
• Podcast: Surviving Squid Game with New Books Network (2023)
• Podcast: Vox Media Switched on Pop (2019)
• Podcast: K-Pop Live with New Books Network (2019)
• Interview: KBS America (2022)
• Interview: Quartz News Show (2019)
• Interview: All Things Considered (NPR, 2016)
• Interview: “K-popporazzi” (Radio Lab, 2016)
• Lecture: “What is K-pop?” (USC Korean Studies Institute, 2016)
• Lecture: “For the Eyes of the Dear Leader: Fashion and Body Politics in North Korean Visual Arts” (Library of Congress, 2007)