Victor Cha




Victor D. Cha, ICAS Fellow, is Professor and Director of Asian Studies and holds the D.S. Song Chair in the Department of Government and School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. In 2009, Victor was named as Senior Adviser and the inaugural holder of the new Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC.

He left the White House in May 2007 after serving since 2004 as Director for Asian Affairs at the National Security Council. At the White House, Victor was responsible primarily for Japan, the Korean peninsula, Australia/New Zealand and Pacific Island nation affairs. He 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.

Victor is the author of five books: 1) Alignment Despite Antagonism: The United States-Korea-Japan Security Triangle (Stanford University Press) (winner of the 2000 Ohira Book Prize), 2) Nuclear North Korea: A Debate on Engagement Strategies (Columbia University Press, 2004 with Dave Kang), 3) Beyond the Final Score: The Politics of Sport in Asia (Columbia, 2009); 4) The Impossible State: North Korea, Past and Future (HarperCollins, 2012; selected by Foreign Affairs as a best book of 2012 on the Asia-Pacific); and 5) Powerplay: Origins of the American Alliance System in Asia (Princeton University Press, forthcoming). He has written articles on international relations and East Asia in journals including Foreign Affairs, International Security, Political Science Quarterly, Survival, International Studies Quarterly, and Asian Survey. Victor is a former John M. Olin National Security Fellow at Harvard University, two-time Fulbright Scholar, and Hoover National Fellow, CISAC Fellow, and William J. Perry Fellow at Stanford University. He holds Georgetown’s Dean’s Award for teaching in 2010 and the Distinguished Research Award for 2011.

He serves as an independent consultant, and has testified before United States Congress on Asian security issues. Victor has been a guest analyst for various media including CNN, ABC Nightline, NBC Today Show, CBS Morning Show, Fox News, MSNBC, CNBC, BBC, ESPN, Sports Illustrated, and National Public Radio.

Victor received BA from Columbia College, MA from Oxford and earned PhD from Columbia University.

Links for Victor Cha
Bulletin of November 18, 2013
2010 ICAS Annual Liberty Award Dinner
Remarks in Honor of Dr. Chong Moon Lee


This page last updated November 23, 2013 jdb