Myung-Koo Kang holds Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley (major in political science, specialty: comparative political economy, public administration, and East Asia) and M.A and B.A. from the Seoul National University (major in international relations). He was brought up in a rural area of South Korea, observing the massive social mobilization during the 1970s, and he served in the DMZ for three years before he came to the U.S. He conducted research at the Policy Research Institute of the Ministry of Finance, Japan, for a year as a visiting scholar about Japanese financial reforms.

Dr. Kang is currently conducting research on various projects: (1) preparing the dissertation for publication about the financial reforms in Japan and South Korea, and effects of financial restructuring on corporate financing and governance; (2) research on the social and historical origin of Korean power elite, and as its extension, leading research project on comparative studies on power elite in Japan, South Korea, and China; (3) the pattern of uneven regional integration in East Asia and its prospects; (4) research on the political and economic difficulties faced by North Korean refugees living in South Korea.