Ms. Marialaura De Angelis: Northeast Asia Analyst, Asia Guild Project Co-founder, Track2Asia Senior Advisor (Former KNI, Japan/Korean Peninsula Specialist). Based in Brussels
Marialaura is an international relations analyst with a solid expertise on Northeast Asia and extensive experience on EU external affairs, mediation-support, and dialogue facilitation.
In 2008-2009, she worked at the European Parliament where she gained first-hand experience of intergovernmental relations between the EU and Japan, China, and the Korean Peninsula. Between 2009 and 2014, Marialaura focused on EU-East Asia Trade and Political negotiations–helping European and Asian policy makers overcome the political and cultural barriers to achieve constructive dialogue.
A passionate advocate for peaceful conflict resolution, she has been involved in peacebuilding efforts on the Korean peninsula since 2008.In 2011, she was at the forefront of the creation and development of a Track 1.5 dialogue aimed at adapting the Irish peace process to the reality of the Korean Peninsula crisis. In 2014, she co-founded Track2Asia, an NGO focused on Track 2 and Track 1.5 diplomacy between Europe and East Asia. In 2017, Marialaura joined the Korea Negotiation Initiative (KNI), a collaborative effort devoted to facilitating a negotiated resolution to the Korean nuclear crisis. During this period, she participated in many Track 1.5 and Track 2 meetings and negotiations with North Koreans.
Her collaborations include platforms such as The Northeast Asian Economic Forum (NEAEF) (2010-2016), and projects such as “Creating an International Network for Peace Studies and Research: Peace Lessons from Europe for the Korean peninsula” hosted by the Leiden University College in The Hague (since 2017); and the Stakeholders Consultations on the Korean Peninsula Crisis hosted by the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (CPCS) (since 2016).
Marialaura’s research and written contributions focus on promoting innovative diplomatic solutions to secure peace and denuclearization in Northeast Asia, with a special focus on EU and US diplomatic efforts in this region. In 2022, she was selected as a fellow in the program hosted by the National Committee on American Foreign Policy (NCAFP) for emerging Korea Peninsula specialists, where she researched the topic of US-DPRK nuclear negotiations in the current security environment. Since 2021, she has been a regular contributor to NK News and NKPro online news outlets.
In 2023, she co-created the Asia Guild, the first Think-and-Do hub in Brussels dedicated to Northeast Asia.
