Bruce E. Bechtol, Jr. (Ph.D. Union Institute), is an award-winning professor of political science at Angelo State University and a retired Marine. He was formerly on the faculty at the Marine Corps Command and Staff College (2005–2010) and the Air Command and Staff College (2003–2005). Dr. Bechtol served as an adjunct visiting professor at the Korea University Graduate School of International Studies (2006–2007). He was an intelligence officer at the Defense Intelligence Agency from 1997 until 2003, eventually serving as the senior analyst for Northeast Asia in the Intelligence Directorate (J2) on the Joint Staff in the Pentagon. He formerly sat on the editorial review board of the East Asian Review from 2005 to 2009 and served as editor of the Defense Intelligence Journal from 2004 to 2005. He is currently on the editorial advisory board of the Korea Observer (2011–present), the editorial board of the International Journal of Security Studies, and is on the scientific board of Global Humanities (2014 present). He is the current Chairman of the Board of the International Council on Korean Studies. He is the author of “North Korean Military Proliferation to the Middle East and Africa: Enabling Violence and Instability” (University Press of Kentucky: 2018), “North Korea and Regional Security in the Kim Jong-un Era: A New International Security Dilemma” (Palgrave Macmillan: 2014), “The Last Days of Kim Jong-Il: The North Korean Threat in a Changing Era” (University of Nebraska Press: 2013), “Defiant Failed State: The North Korean Threat to International Security” (Potomac Books: 2010), and “Red Rogue: The Persistent Challenge of North Korea” (Potomac Books: 2007), and he is the editor of “Confronting Security Challenges on the Korean Peninsula” (Marine Corps University Press: 2011) and “The Quest for a Unified Korea: Strategies for the Cultural and Interagency Process” (Marine Corps University Foundation: 2007). He is also the author of more than forty articles in peer-reviewed journals. A widely sought after expert on North Korean international security issues, Dr. Bechtol has been called on to present commentary to the BBC, CNN, CBC, FOX News, Radio New Zealand, syndicated nationwide radio shows such as POTUS politics on SIRIUS/XM, the John Batchelor show, and several interviews on National Public Radio (to name a few).

Dr. Anthony N Celso earned a PhD in comparative public policy from The Ohio State University in 1989. He has worked as a professor of political science at numerous academic institutions including Mount Union College, University of Central Florida, Albright College, and Valley Forge Military College. He joined the Department of Security Studies and Criminal Justice at Angelo State University (ASU) in 2011 where he teaches terrorism, weak and failing states and regional studies classes in the Middle East, Europe and Latin America. Dr Celso is the author of “Al Qaeda Post 9-11 Devolution” (New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2014) and “The Islamic State: A Comparative History of Jihadist Warfare” (Latham: Lexington Books, 2018). Dr Celso has written over two dozen journal articles on Sunni jihadist groups and terrorism. His current research involves the ongoing war between Israel and Iran’s Axis of Resistance.

Dr. George A. Hutchinson is the Editor of the International Journal of Korean Studies and a board member of the International Council on Korean Studies. He has also served as a Senior Regional Planner, supporting and advising the U.S. Air Force on basing issues in the Republic of Korea. Previously, Dr. Hutchinson specialized in supporting wargaming and energy policy as a consultant at the Pentagon. Dr. Hutchinson has served in the U.S. Air Force as both a commissioned and noncommissioned officer in the U.S. Air Force in various roles, including Logistics Readiness Officer, Northeast Asia Foreign Area Officer, and Korean linguist.

He is the author of “Army of the Indoctrinated: The Suryong, the Soldier, and Information in the KPA” (Committee for Human Rights in North Korea) and “North Korea’s Nuclear Decisions and Strategies: Sovereignty, Legitimacy, and the Bomb” (Routledge, 2024). His work has also been published in the International Journal of Korean Studies, U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, Air Force Journal of Logistics, and Marine Corps University Press as well as in reports by the Korea Economic Institute of America.

Dr. Hutchinson holds a Ph.D. from George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government and a master’s in logistics management from the U.S. Air Force Institute of Technology.

Greg Scarlatoiu is the President and CEO of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK). Since 2011, he has overseen the publication of 59 HRNK reports. For twelve years, he has been a visiting professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies and Yonsei University in Seoul. Scarlatoiu is president of the International Council on Korean Studies (ICKS). He was a Radio Free Asia Korean columnist for twenty-two years. Scarlatoiu holds a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School, Tufts University, and a Master of Arts and Bachelor of Arts from Seoul National University’s Department of International Relations. He completed the MIT XXI Seminar for U.S. national security leaders in 2016-2017. Scarlatoiu was awarded the title “Citizen of Honor, City of Seoul,” in January 1999. Born and raised in communist Romania, he is a naturalized U.S. citizen. Scarlatoiu is fluent in Korean, French and Romanian.