With a robust academic background in international relations and area studies, particularly focused on the Korean Peninsula and the DPRK, Elena Guido is a researcher at Leiden Asia Centre. Elena’s professional experience includes teaching roles as well as human rights and policy research that emphasize her expertise in Korean affairs and the geopolitical dynamics influencing the East Asian region.

Elena has completed a master’s degree in International Relations at Leiden University, with a thesis on UNSC sanctions’ impact on the DPRK. She graduated with a master’s in East Asian Studies from Leiden, focusing on North Korean dissident artists Sun Mu and Seong Byeok.

Elena previously interned at PSCORE in Seoul, contributing to a UN-submitted report on Internet freedom in the DPRK, and taught a course on Korean language and culture at Leonardo da Vinci High School in Italy. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Ca’ Foscari University, from which she graduated with a thesis comparing resistance movements and their narratives in Italy and Korea.

Her latest research project at the Leiden Asia Centre focuses on the DPRK’s involvement in the Russo-Ukrainian war.

Research interests:

• Korean Peninsula and DPRK dynamics
• Global conflict and diplomacy
• Cultural and political intersections in East Asia
• Violent non-state actors