Sunghwah Ko is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Liberal Arts at Cheongju University. She has been affiliated with the Institute of Global Strategy and Cooperation as a Senior Research Fellow.

She received her M.A. in International Peace Studies from the University for Peace (Costa Rica) and her Ph.D. from Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, where her doctoral research examined the ROK–U.S. alliance. Her research focuses on Northeast Asian security, security dynamics on the Korean Peninsula, and the ROK–U.S. alliance.

Sunghwah Ko is currently an Analyst at the Seoul Institute of Global Affairs (SIGA).