Yixin Zhang is an undergraduate at the University of Michigan studying International Studies and Environmental Science. She is particularly interested in international law, with a focus on armed conflict and human rights.

Growing up in China, Yixin was initially exposed to portrayals of North Korea as a political “comrade” (동지) within a shared socialist framework. Through her academic training at the University of Michigan, she has since developed a deeper understanding of the country’s authoritarian governance, social hierarchy, and systemic human rights abuses.

Yixin is motivated to raise awareness of human rights issues while examining how international law can operate pragmatically within political constraints and security dilemmas. In her work, she is committed to centering the lived experiences of individuals rather than reducing human suffering to abstract statistics