Publications
Cheong, S, M-C. (2026). From Conflict-Attuned to Peacebuilding Civic Identities: Reimagining Peacebuilding Citizenship Education through North Korean Migrants’ Autobiographical Narratives [In Korean]. Education Review, 60, 238-272.
Abstract
Nearly eight decades of territorial division on the Korean Peninsula have entrenched conflict-attuned civic identities through ideological antagonism, mutual othering, and conflict-blind education systems. While peace education scholarship increasingly recognises the transformative potential of citizenship education, it still lacks a grounded framework for fostering the civic identities necessary for peaceful coexistence between the two Koreas. Addressing this gap, this study explores how transnational migration and resettlement experience shape civic identity transformation among seven North Korean migrants living in Seoul, South Korea, and New Malden, United Kingdom. Drawing on biographical narrative interviews and digital autobiographical writings, the study employs Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA ) to trace shifts from conflict-attuned civic identities toward peacebuilding civic identities. Four superordinate themes emerged: cosmopolitanism, interconnectedness, imagination, and transformative civic agency. Together, these themes reveal how participants developed shared humanistic perspectives, critical awareness of structural injustice, future-oriented visions of a unified Korea, and capacities for social action through experiences of migration and displacement. At the same time, the findings highlight the ambivalent nature of this process, as migration could also generate new forms of hostility and disillusionment. Interpreted through the framework of Peacebuilding Citizenship Education (PCE), integrating Critical Peace Education (CPE) and Education for Cosmopolitan Citizenship (ECC), the study offers empirical and pedagogical insights for reimagining peace-unification education in South Korea.
Cheong, S. M. C., Azada-Palacios, R., & Beye, K. (2025). Becoming bridge citizens: Educating for social justice in conflict-affected settings. Education, Citizenship and Social Justice, 20(2), 237-256.
Abstract
This study draws on empirical data to fine-tune the theoretical concept, ‘bridging civic identity’, which we propose as an educational aim in conflict-affected settings. We analyse interview data from Liberian respondents and North Korean migrants living in South Korea, using a conceptual framework based on the notions of ‘bridge citizens’ and agency. The analysis reveals the following: (1) that a high sense of agency is related to resourcefulness and fortitude, (2) that identifying oneself as a ‘bridge citizen’ is connected to recognising others as such, and (3) that concrete, large-scale aspirations of social justice for the larger community – and therefore ‘imaginativeness’ – are central components of a bridging civic identity. The findings suggest that learners in similar settings ought to be trained in resourcefulness and fortitude, be shown the collective nature of working towards shared goals, and be given encouragement to visualise the just future they desire for their community or nation.
Cheong, S. M.-C. (2024). A Tale of Two Cities: Navigating Politics of Hate of North Korean Migrants in Seoul and New Malden, In Izabela A. Dahl (Ed), Exploring Contemporary Challenge in Global Politics and Society. London: Intech Open Publishing.
Abstract
This chapter examines the experiences of North Korean migrants in Seoul, South Korea, and New Malden, United Kingdom, focusing on their navigation of discrimination, hate speech, and the development of peacebuilding capacities. Utilizing autobiographical narrative inquiry, the study provides a dual comparative analysis of these two cities to understand the migrants’ experiences in different cultural and sociopolitical contexts. The concept of “bridging civic identities” is central and characterized by cosmopolitanism, interconnectedness, and imaginativeness, enabling the transformation of conflict-attuned civic identities into peacebuilding civic identities. In Seoul, migrants face significant discrimination rooted in the “division habitus,” a legacy of the Korean War, but develop strategies to overcome these challenges, leveraging educational opportunities and social networks. In New Malden, a cosmopolitan space, migrants reconstruct new civic identities, the so-called “cosmopolitan (civic) identities” and gain skills to adapt to British society, benefiting from the social welfare system. The chapter highlights the comparative analysis of these cities, revealing how those unique Northerners transform their civic identities, the conflicts they feel with belonging, and how they cultivate new capacities as bridge citizens.
Cheong, M. C. (2022). Imagining peacebuilding citizenship education: An investigation of the experience of North Korean migrants as ‘bridge citizens.’ Doctoral thesis, UCL (University College London).
Abstract
Since the national division of Korea in 1948, successive governments of South Korea have seen reunification as the way to a long- term peaceful settlement. Despite the key role of education in preparing the population for reunification and eventually in ensuring a successful social transformation, the education systems on either side have created conflict-attuned civic identities due to incompatibility. The study hypothesises that North Korean migrants who have experience of acculturation between the two Koreas and possibly experience in adapting to other democratic societies, develop new civic identities. They have the capacity to become bridge citizens who will contribute to peacebuilding. Therefore, this thesis addresses the question: to what extent and how can the experiences and reflections of North Korean migrants who have settled in ROK and the UK contribute to an appropriate educational response to reunification. This study used critical theories, namely, conflict and peacebuilding, habitus, critical peace education and cosmopolitan citizenship education as a framework to engage with literature and to conceptualise the term of bridge citizen. By using a combination of biographic narrative interviewing and digital autobiographic writing, rich narrative accounts of migration journeys and reflections of seven North Korean migrants who shared their experiences of migration and adaptation to a new culture and society were acquired. The data reveal how they transform their civic identities in their life trajectories, the ways they belong and the conflicts they felt with belonging in new circumstances, and how they cultivate new capacities as bridge citizens. Five distinct civic identities emerge: belligerent civic identity, border-crosser identity, Jayumin identity, cosmopolitan civic identity and bridging civic identity. The process of transforming their identification develops and results from new capacities for peacebuilding including, realising, enabling, reflecting, reconciling, thriving, transforming and bridge-building.
Cheong, M. C., Azada-Palacios, R., Beye, K., Lang, A. P., Saud, N. B., & Tong, Y. (2021). Collective autobiographical reflexivity on active and compassionate citizenship in the COVID-19 crisis. Perspectives in Education, 39(1), 304-322.
Abstract
Since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, socio-economic inequalities have become exacerbated and COVID-19 related hate crimes have increased. This paper explores how citizenship education might be reimagined in response to this context, with the vision of rebuilding a more equitable and compassionate society. By using a collective autobiographical writing approach, this study documented six different autobiographical reflexivities of citizenship education scholars who were from different parts of the world: China, South Korea, the Philippines, the United States, Nepal and the United Kingdom. It also observed the way the pandemic played out in the location where they were situated during the research as well as how it played out in their countries of origin, and further, how it affected the civic development in each context. The scholars’ range of autobiographical expressions resulted in insights for developing a type of citizenship education, namely, education for active and compassionate citizenship.