A geographer and Korean Studies specialist, Valérie Gelézeau is director of studies at EHESS (École des hautes études en sciences sociales) in Paris.

She published Seoul, giant city, radiant cities (Paris, CNRS Éditions, 2003), a work which analyzes the development of large complexes in South Korea, and writes numerous articles on contemporary South Korean urban society. From 2006 to 2008, she led a National Research Agency program on North/South interfaces on the Korean peninsula and has since developed work on the border between the two Koreas and on North Korea.