Profile

Senior Research Fellow, the Canon Institute for Global Studies
Kohtaro ITO
Foreign & Security Policy of the Republic of Korea, International Relations in East Asia
In 2004 Kohtaro Ito started working at the office of Member of the House of Representatives. In 2006 he took a position at the Japan Center for International Exchange (JCIE) as an Assistant Program Officer. Afterward, he was a Junior Research Fellow at Ilmin International Research Institute of Korea University. After coming back to Tokyo, he got a position at the Canon Institute for Global Studies (CIGS) and contributed to research and analytical activities of the team on Korean issues. From 2015 to 2017, he served as a Deputy Counsellor at National Security Secretariat (NSS), Cabinet Secretariat to deal with Northeast Asian diplomatic and security issues, especially Korean affairs. Rejoined CIGS in July 2017. He is also Specially-Appointed Associate Professor at Hosei University and Visiting Associate Professor at Ritsumeikan University. He received his Bachelor of and Master of Policy Studies and Doctor of Political Science from Chuo University in 2001, 2004 and 2022. He was an exchange student at Korea University during graduate school.
List of publications
- 2025.10.20 Reinvigorating the UN Command: New Zealand’s Deployment to South Korea and Its Strategic Implications
- 2023.05.18 Developing Relations Between South Korea and Australia: Seoul’s Integration into U.S. Ally Military Network
- 2020.03.12 What to Make of South Korea’s Growing Defense Spending
- 2019.10.21 US-led leadership can strengthen the United Nations Command, and ROK’s concerns -A perspective from Japan- [1] [2]