Anthony Kuhn
Anthony Kuhn is NPR's correspondent based in Seoul, South Korea, reporting on the Korean Peninsula, Japan, and the great diversity of Asia's countries and cultures. Before moving to Seoul in 2018, he traveled to the region to cover major stories including the North Korean nuclear crisis and the Fukushima earthquake and nuclear disaster.
Kuhn previously served two five-year stints in Beijing, China, for NPR, during which he covered major stories such as the Beijing Olympics, geopolitical jousting in the South China Sea, and the lives of Tibetans, Uighurs, and other minorities in China's borderlands.
He took a particular interest in China's rich traditional culture and its impact on the current day. He has recorded the sonic calling cards of itinerant merchants in Beijing's back alleys, and the descendants of court musicians of the Tang Dynasty. He has profiled petitioners and rights lawyers struggling for justice, and educational reformers striving to change the way Chinese think.
From 2010-2013, Kuhn was NPR's Southeast Asia correspondent, based in Jakarta, Indonesia. Among other stories, he explored Borneo and Sumatra, and witnessed the fight to preserve the biodiversity of the world's oldest forests. He also followed Myanmar's democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, as she rose from political prisoner to head of state.
Kuhn served as NPR's correspondent in London from 2004-2005, covering stories including the London subway bombings and the marriage of the Prince of Wales to the Duchess of Cornwall.
Besides his major postings, Kuhn's journalistic horizons have been expanded by various short-term assignments. These produced stories including wartime black humor in Iraq, musical diplomacy by the New York Philharmonic in Pyongyang, North Korea, a kerfuffle over the plumbing in Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Pakistani artists' struggle with religious extremism in Lahore, and the Syrian civil war's spillover into neighboring Lebanon.
Prior to joining NPR, Kuhn wrote for the Far Eastern Economic Review and freelanced for various news outlets, including the Los Angeles Times and Newsweek. He majored in French literature as an undergraduate at Washington University in St. Louis, and later did graduate work at the Johns Hopkins University-Nanjing University Center for Chinese and American studies in Nanjing.
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President Trump says his "good relationship" with Kim Jong Un is critical to curbing the North Korean nuclear threat. A President Biden will face a country with a bigger nuclear arsenal than in 2016.
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The president-elect sought to reassure the leaders of Japan, South Korea and Australia that he will work to renew and strengthen ties. -
A scandal involving appointments to a government advisory committee has the government of new Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga off to a rocky start. He took office in September.
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After four years of a president who challenged the worth of the U.S.-East Asia network of alliances, leaders in the region expect a return to traditional relations. -
Japan's government is appealing a landmark court ruling that holds it responsible for failing to prevent the worst nuclear accident in the country's history and orders it to pay damages to victims.
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The North Korean leader unveiled what appeared to be an upgraded and enlarged version of the Hwasong-15, an intercontinental ballistic missile thought to be capable of hitting the U.S. -
The secretary of state urged Japan, India, Australia and the U.S. to protect against China's "corruption and coercion." The meeting resulted in no major initiatives. Beijing panned it before it began. -
South Korea handled the coronavirus crisis well, but mid-pandemic doctors went on strike. Some say their profession is in crisis, with many abandoning essential medicine to go into cosmetic surgery.
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South Korea's president sent President Trump a message of "solace and encouragement." A Chinese newspaper editor tweeted that Trump had "paid the price for his gamble to play down the COVID-19." -
As the world marks the sad milestone of 1 million lives lost to the coronavirus, NPR's international team reviews the way nations have handled the pandemic.
