Dr. Sungmin Cho is a Nonresident Fellow on Chinese Politics, Foreign Policy, and National Security at Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis. He is also an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at SungKyunKwan University (SKKU) in Seoul, South Korea. From August 2018 to May 2024, he worked as a professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies (APCSS), an academic institute of the US Department of Defense, based in Honolulu, Hawaii.

His areas of expertise include the US-China competition, Chinese politics, and the geopolitics of Northeast Asia. Cho has published solo-authored articles in peer-reviewed journals, including World Politics, Journal of Contemporary China, Asian Security, Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs, Korea Observer, and co-authored pieces in The China Journal, Journal of Indo-Pacific Affairs, among others. His policy analysis has also appeared in Foreign Affairs, The Washington Quarterly, and War on the Rocks. Cho has contributed commentaries at the invitation of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Brookings Institution, and other think tanks. Prior to his academic career, Cho served in the Korean Army as an intelligence officer for three years, including a seven-month deployment to Iraq.

Born and raised in Seoul, South Korea, Cho earned his PhD in government from Georgetown University, an MA in international relations from Peking University, and a BA in political science from Korea University.