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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Pyongyang says an unidentified man was found in North Korean waters and that he murmured he was from South Korea but then stopped responding to soldiers' questions and appeared to try to flee.
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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un says he is sorry for the shooting death of a South Korean official. The statement should cool tensions between the two Koreas, leaving room for future diplomacy.
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The 47-year-old fisheries official, whose name was not released, apparently jumped off a patrol boat near the maritime border between North and South and floated into North Korean waters.
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The former chief Cabinet secretary and government spokesman was sworn in as the country's first new prime minister in almost eight years after Shinzo Abe stepped down citing health concerns.
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Yoshihide Suga, 71, was voted in as the country's next leader. Suga was outgoing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's right-hand man, and is generally seen as an uncharismatic technocrat.
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As Prime Minister Shinzo Abe steps down, Japan is poised to fulfill his vision of a more assertive military posture with a missile defense system, spurred by President Trump's disdain for allies.
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A clash over disease control between the government and a church is the latest flashpoint in a wider conflict between a right-wing coalition and President Moon Jae-in's liberal administration.
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A fundamentalist Christian church at the heart of a right-wing movement is clashing with the South Korean government over COVID-19.
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As parents, teachers and children across the globe struggle with how to return to school safely during the pandemic, we look at strategies in Mexico, South Korea and Greece.
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Abe announced he is leaving office before his term ends in 2021 because of poor health. His legacy is controversial and a successor is unclear.