Kayla T. Orta

Kayla T. Orta is a Visiting Senior Fellow at KEI. She is an Indo-Pacific specialist with expertise on U.S.-South Korea ties, North Korea, and U.S.-South Korea-Japan trilateral relations at the intersection of security and technology policy. She holds nonresident fellowships at the Atlantic Council’s Indo-Pacific Security Initiative, George Washington University’s Institute for Korean Studies (GWIKS), and the University of Vienna’s European Centre for North Korean Studies (ECNK). As a foreign policy analyst, Orta publishes widely on U.S.-South Korean diplomatic, economic, and security partnerships across a diversity of advanced technologies, including nuclear deterrence, AI, civil nuclear energy, nonproliferation, and dual-use safeguards.

Professionally fluent in Korean, Orta previously served as the Senior Associate at the Wilson Center’s Hyundai Motor-Korea Foundation Center for Korean History and Public Policy. In 2024, she was a U.S. selectee for the Department of State’s Women Experts in U.S.-South Korea-Japan Trilateral Security delegation. She has held a variety of U.S. and Korean fellowships, including at the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, KAIST Nuclear Nonproliferation Education and Research Center (NEREC), and the German Marshall Fund’s Taiwan-U.S.-Europe Policy Program. Her recent publications include “Rethinking the U.S.-South Korea 123 Agreement in a New Strategic Era,” “High-Tech Alliances: South Korea, the G7 and the Future of AI and Nuclear Innovation,” “Atoms for Peace or Strategic Power? Re-aligning U.S.-South Korea’s Nuclear Nonproliferation Agendas,” and “Iran’s Asymmetric Drone Warfare: Critical Lessons for the U.S.-ROK Alliance.” She is currently working on a project titled “Allied Innovation in a Competitive Age: The Future of U.S.–ROK Cooperation in Advanced and Emerging Technologies,” which explores U.S.-South Korea tech diplomacy and industry-to-industry partnerships in AI, civil nuclear, and space innovation. Her commentary has been featured in major media outlets in the United States, Europe, and East Asia, including ABC 7, BBC, France24, Deutsche Welle, Australia Broadcast Corporation (ABC), Voice of America (VOA), Radio Free Asia (RFA), Bloomberg, The Washington Post, and The Diplomat.

She holds an M.A. in International Studies (Korean Studies) with highest honors from Seoul National University’s Graduate School of International Studies. Her thesis, written in Korean, analyzed U.S.-South Korean nuclear negotiation strategies during the 1994 North Korean Nuclear Crisis. She attained her dual B.A. in International Studies and Foreign Languages (magna cum laude) from Miami University.