Professor Hazel Smith

Professor Hazel Smith is Professorial Research Associate in Korean Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Professor Emeritus in International Security at Cranfield University, Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, member of World Economic Forum expert network (on Korea), member of the Council of the British Association of Korean Studies, and editor-in chief of the European Journal of Korean Studies. Professor Smith has researched and published on North Korea’s international relations, domestic politics, economic and society for over 35 years. Professor Smith lived in North Korea for two years while working for UN WFP and UNICEF; earning a (still valid) North Korean driving license. 

Professor Smith received her PhD in International Relations from the London School of Economics, beginning her academic career at the University of Kent where she was Director of the London Centre of International Relations before moving to the University of Warwick, where she directed the Master’s course in International Relations and was appointed full Chair and Professor of International Relations in 2002. Professor Smith served as Director of Cranfield University's International Resilience Centre at the UK Defence Academy (owned and operated by the UK Ministry of Defence to train military professionals from the UK, NATO and round the globe); after which she was  appointed by UCLAN as founding Director of the University’s  International Institute of Korean Studies. 

Professor Smith has been awarded multiple competitive international fellowships; including at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (2019/20 and 2012/2013), the East-West Center, Honolulu (2008 and 2015), Kyushu University, the United States Institute of Peace (2001/2002), and Stanford University (1994/95).  

Professor Smith’s publications include ‘The impact of UNSC sanctions on food security in the DPRK’, Joy Gordon (ed), Economic sanctions from Havana to Baghdad . Cambridge University Press, 2025; ‘The return of famine to North Korea? An evidence-based assessment of the economic and humanitarian impact of United Nation sanctions’, Suk Lee (ed), DPRK Sanctions, Seoul. KDI. 2022; ‘The impact of sanctions on international humanitarian assistance to the DPRK’, ONN-CENESS, Vienna, 2022; ‘North Korea’s Food Security Strategy: Analytically Flawed, Inherently Fragile’, Robert Carlin and Chung-in Moon (eds), Understanding Kim Jong-un’s North Korea: Regime Dynamics, Negotiation, and Engagement, Lanham: Lexington, 2022; The ethics of United Nations sanctions on North Korea: effectiveness, necessity and proportionality, Critical Asian Studies, 52 (2), 2020; North Korea: Markets and Military Rule. Cambridge University Press, 2015.  

Professor Smith has advised various agencies of government worldwide, including the US, UK, South Korea, Switzerland and Japan and UN agencies on North Korea, has acted as an expert witness in international litigation, and is a frequent broadcaster for global media on North Korea and East Asian security.