S. Paul Choi (최석훈) is Principal at StratWays Group, a Seoul-based geopolitical risk advisory. He specializes in political-military affairs, international security, strategy design, and deterrence.

 

Choi provides counsel to government agencies, think-tanks, investment banks, and businesses. He engages in track 1.5 dialogues and speaks at academic and policy institutions around the world. His commentary appears in the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Financial Times, NPR, and JoongAng Ilbo.

 

Previously, Choi worked as a Strategist and International Relations Specialist at the United Nations Command / Republic of Korea (ROK) – U.S. Combined Forces Command in the Commander's Strategic Initiatives Group and in the Directorate for Strategy, Policy, and Plans (2013-18). In this capacity, he assisted in the establishment of the ROK-U.S. Deterrence Strategy Committee, the ROK-U.S. Tailored Deterrence Strategy, and various bilateral operational plans.

He has also been a Stanton Nuclear Policy Fellow at RAND (2022-23), Research Associate at the Council on Foreign Relations (2011-13), Visiting Scholar at Fudan University (2011), and Faculty Lecturer at the Korea Military Academy (2007-10). 

Choi’s published analyses include “As World Order Shifts, So Does South Korean Security Policy” (Arms Control Today, Vol. 53:6, July/August 2023); “Managing Competition: Arms Limitations and Beyond” (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, May 05, 2022); “The Limits of Operational Integration” (Alliances, Nuclear Weapons and Escalation: Managing Deterrence in the 21st Century, Australia National University Press, December, 2021); “Deterring North Korea: The Need for Collective Resolve and Alliance Transformation” (38 North, Stimson Center, July 2020).

Research interests: security, defense, strategy, alliances