Alexander Vorontsov is currently the head of the Department for Korean and Mongolian Studies and the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russia Academy of Sciences. He also holds several teaching and research posts at the Lomonosov Moscow State University, as Russian Federation Military Science Academy Professor, the Institute for Asian Studies at Osaka University of Economy and Law in Japan visiting professor. He is the member of the Russian part of the Russia-DPRK Intergovernmental Commission dealing with trade-economic and scientific-technical cooperation. Vorontsov holds a Ph.D. in history from the Institute of Oriental Studies at the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences, and has studied at Lomonosov Moscow State University and Pyongyang Kim Il Sung University.