Leif-Eric EASLEY is Assistant Professor in the Division of International Studies at Ewha University and a Research Fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul, Korea. At Ewha, Professor Easley teaches international security and political economics. His research interests include contested national identities and changing levels of trust in the bilateral security relationships of Northeast Asia. Dr. Easley was the Northeast Asian History Fellow at the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) at Stanford University. He was also a visiting scholar at Yonsei University, the University of Southern California’s Korean Studies Institute, and the Japan Institute for International Affairs (JIIA) in Tokyo. Professor Easley regularly speaks at international conferences and is involved in high-level U.S.-Asia exchanges (Track II diplomacy) with the Asan Institute and the Pacific Forum-Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). He completed his B.A. in political science with a minor in mathematics at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and received his M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard University’s Department of Government. His research appears in a variety of academic journals and volumes, supplemented by commentaries in major newspapers (links available at http://www.leifeasley.net).