Gunyeop was born and raised in South Korea until he moved to the U.S. at the age of 16 as an exchange student. He graduated from Kalamazoo College with B.A. in Political Science and from University College London with M.Sc. in Security Studies. He has worked as a research assistant at International Institute for Counter-Terrorism in IDC, Herzliya, Israel and Henry Jackson Society in London, U.K. His research interests include defense and foreign policy, East Asian politics, U.S.-China relations, religious extremism, antisemitism, politics of Israel, and Artificial Intelligence.