Robert E. Kelly (born September 27, 1972) is an American political analyst on inter-Korean affairs and associate professor in political science at

Pusan National University Pusan National University (PNU), also called Busan National University, is one of ten Flagship Korean National Universities in South Korea and second highest public universities in South Korea. Located mainly in Busan (or Pusan), the universi ...

. In March 2017, he and his family rose to fame when his live interview on

BBC World News BBC World News is an international English-language pay television network, operated under the ''BBC Global News Limited'' division of the BBC, which is a public corporation of the UK government's Department for Digital, Culture, Media and S ...

was sequentially gatecrashed by his children and wife.

Early life and education

Originally from

Cuyahoga County, Ohio Cuyahoga County ( or ) is a large urban county located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Ohio. It is situated on the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the Canada–United States border, U.S.-Canada maritime border. As of the 2020 U ...

, Kelly in 1994 graduated ''

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

'' from

Miami University Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public research university in Oxford, Ohio. The university was founded in 1809, making it the second-oldest university in Ohio (behind Ohio University, founded in 1804) and the 10 ...

with a BA in history and political science. Following his undergraduate studies, he attended

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

and obtained an MA in international relations in 2002 and a Ph.D. in international relations in 2005 and wrote a dissertation titled, ''The Impact of

Non-Governmental Organizations A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

on the

Bretton Woods Bretton Woods can refer to: *Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, a village in the United States **Bretton Woods Mountain Resort, a ski resort located in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire *The 1944 Bretton Woods Conference, also known as the "United Nations Mo ...

Institutions''. He studied in Germany and had an internship in the

German Bundestag German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

.
Clip
He speaks German fluently.

Career

Kelly is an

associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. Overview In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a ...

international relations International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such as ...

in the Department of Political Science and Diplomacy at

Busan Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea, w ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

. As a political analyst on inter-Korean affairs, he contributes to print and televised media, and has been referred to as a "damn good Korea analyst" by one of his peers. He has made media appearances on the

China Central Television China Central Television (CCTV) is a Chinese state- and political party-owned broadcaster controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Its 50 different channels broadcast a variety of programing to more than one billion viewers in six lan ...

and

Al Jazeera Al Jazeera ( ar, الجزيرة, translit-std=DIN, translit=al-jazīrah, , "The Island") is a state-owned Arabic-language international radio and TV broadcaster of Qatar. It is based in Doha and operated by the media conglomerate Al Jazeera ...

and has written for several publications including ''

The Diplomat ''The Diplomat'' is an international online news magazine covering politics, society, and culture in the Indo-Pacific region. It is based in Washington, D.C. It was originally an Australian bi-monthly print magazine, founded by Minh Bui Jones ...

'' and ''

Foreign Affairs ''Foreign Affairs'' is an American magazine of international relations and U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership organization and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and ...

''. He has also provided expert opinion for ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' and ''

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was estab ...

''. Kelly is furthermore a prolific contributor to ''The Interpreter'', published by the Australian think tank

Lowy Institute The Lowy Institute is an independent think tank founded in April 2003 by Frank Lowy to conduct original, policy-relevant research about international political, strategic and economic issues from an Australian perspective. It is based in Sydney, ...

BBC News interview (2017)

On March 10, 2017, he and his family rose to fame when his live interview by

James Menendez James Menendez is a British journalist and radio broadcaster working for BBC News, BBC World Service, and BBC World News. Menendez is one of the main presenters of '' Newshour'' on the BBC World Service. Career Menendez joined the BBC as a ...

on the

impeachment of Park Geun-hye The impeachment of Park Geun-hye, President of South Korea, was the culmination of a political scandal involving interventions to the presidency from her aide, Choi Soon-sil. The impeachment vote took place on 9 December 2016, with 234 memb ...

, the

President of South Korea The president of the Republic of Korea (), also known as the president of South Korea (often abbreviated to POTROK or POSK; ), is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of Korea. The president leads the State Council, and is ...

, for the

from his home office was sequentially gatecrashed by his four-year-old daughter and nine-month-old son entering the room, then his wife, Jung-a Kim, sliding in to drag them out while knocking books off an air-mattress, before closing the door on her knees. The interview continued as normal, with the BBC News hailing the video as their favorite live TV moment of the week. It became a Twitter Moment and quickly went viral with all four family members becoming individual memes. In just one day, the video had over 6 million views on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

and became the No. 1 trending video on YouTube in the UK, later being named 10 on

's list of the top 10 trending videos of 2017. Many viewers and journalists incorrectly assumed the woman in the video was Kelly's nanny instead of his wife. Kelly and his family returned to television on March 14 for an interview about the incident. In December 2017 he said that "for two weeks we were the most famous family on earth" but he thought it could be "the end of my career as a talking head."

Variety shows

Kelly's fame arising from the viral video led to his appearance on a South Korean

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

show that focuses on the struggles of fathers raising young children.

Select bibliography

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References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Robert 1972 births Living people American expatriates in South Korea American political scientists Experts on North Korea Miami University alumni Ohio State University Graduate School alumni People from Cuyahoga County, Ohio Viral videos