I am an MPPGA student at the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs here at UBC. I first travelled to South Korea in 2018, straight after high school. Although I was only there for a month, I immediately fell in love with the food, the people and the language. I have been learning Korean ever since and am now upper-intermediate level. Apart from my appreciation for Korean culture, I have carried my interest in East Asian affairs into my academic studies. In 2020, I studied South-North Korean Relations and Korean Politics at Korea University which sparked my interest in a variety of inter-disciplinary policy issues. These include urban air pollution and sustainability, gender equality and Inter-Korean relations. As an IAR Fellow, I co-authored an article in the East Asia Forum titled ‘South Korea’s nuclear U-turn threatens its green energy transition’.