Samantha Clark is an undergraduate student at William & Mary, majoring in History and International Relations with a minor in Psychology. Her academic and professional interests focus on the international relations of North Korea, particularly its interactions with Africa and China. She is especially interested in North Korea’s military and political engagements on the African continent, including its training of Robert Mugabe’s Fifth Brigade in Zimbabwe during the 1980s—which carried out the Gukurahundi massacres in Matabeleland—and its decades-long military cooperation with Uganda, which ended in 2016 under international pressure.

Samantha is also interested in researching North Korea’s overseas prison and labor camps, particularly those located in Russia, as well as broader issues surrounding nuclear weapons development, the maintenance of the Kim dynasty, and the human rights of North Korean defectors.

Her career goals include pursuing graduate study and a future career in academia, where she plans to continue researching the intersections of authoritarianism, security, and international relations.

At HRNK, Samantha is eager to contribute to the team’s research and outreach initiatives, including drafting content for daily news publications, managing research resources, and supporting event coordination. Her interdisciplinary background strengthens her ability to analyze the historical, political, and psychological dimensions of North Korea’s domestic and international behavior.