Dr. Gianluca Spezza completed his Ph.D. in international relations at the International Institute of Korean Studies, University of Central Lancashire (UK) at the end of 2017 under the guidance of professor Hazel Smith, a foremost expert on North Korea. His current research interests include North Korean society — particularly the education sector — and the relationship between North Korea and International Organizations, specifically UNICEF, UNDP, and UNESCO. Dr. Spezza is also interested in comparative analyses of North Korea vis-a-vis other totalitarian regimes, the national identity and national interest of the two Koreas, state compliance with international norms, and the influence of beliefs on politics. Aside from his academic work, he writes as a freelance analyst and op-ed writer for NK News and IRIN news. Since 2012, his work has on North Korea been either published or featured on The Guardian, BBC, Newsweek Korea, Business Insider, Asia Newsdesk, DR (Danish Broadcasting Corporation), and Radio RAI (Italian National Broadcast). His publications include a chapter in the North Korea Atlas (Damdi, 2014), and a chapter in the forthcoming «De-demonizing North Korea», by NIAS Press in Copenhagen. Dr. Spezza also co-authored Icons of Rhetoric, a media-literary project on North Korean media and society, together with UK photographer Chris Barrett, in 2015. Dr. Spezza holds a Master in Contemporary History from the University of Torino, Italy, and a Master of Social Science in Asian Studies (IR) from the University of Turku, Finland.