About Me

Matthew F. Fleming is a Ph.D. student in political science at Northeastern University and a Graduate
Fellow at Northeastern’s Center for International Affairs and World Cultures, where he leads the Indo-
Pacific Minilateral Cooperation Ideas Lab. His research focuses on Indo-Pacific security, minilateralism,
and strategic competition in Northeast Asia, with particular attention to U.S.-ROK-Japan trilateralism,
Indo-Pacific strategies, and U.S. foreign relations with South Korea and Japan. He is an inaugural
NEXUS Fellow with the German Marshall Fund of the United States and a former Non-Resident James
A. Kelly Korea Fellow at Pacific Forum. He was a U.S. delegate to the inaugural U.S.-ROK-Japan
Trilateral Global Leadership Youth Summit, a U.S. Department of State initiative organized through the
U.S. embassies in Seoul and Tokyo and hosted by the East-West Center in 2024. His experience includes
work with the Indo-Pacific Strategy Team in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of East Asian and
Pacific Affairs (EAP/RSP), East Asia Institute, and the journals of the Yonsei Institute for North Korean
Studies. Fleming holds a Master of Global Affairs and Policy from Yonsei University in Seoul, South
Korea, where he specialized in international security and foreign policy, and a Master of Media and
Governance from Keio University in Tokyo, Japan, where he focused on global governance and regional
strategy. His research and commentary have appeared in The Diplomat, Pacific Forum, the CDA
Institute, the East-West Center, North Korean Review, and Journal of Territorial and Maritime Studies.