Elise Hu
Elise Hu is a host-at-large based at NPR West in Culver City, Calif. Previously, she explored the future with her video series, Future You with Elise Hu, and served as the founding bureau chief and International Correspondent for NPR's Seoul office. She was based in Seoul for nearly four years, responsible for the network's coverage of both Koreas and Japan, and filed from a dozen countries across Asia.
Before joining NPR, she was one of the founding reporters at The Texas Tribune, a non-profit digital news startup devoted to politics and public policy. While at the Tribune, Hu oversaw television partnerships and multimedia projects, contributed to The New York Times' expanded Texas coverage, and pushed for editorial innovation across platforms.
An honors graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia's School of Journalism, she previously worked as the state political reporter for KVUE-TV in Austin, WYFF-TV in Greenville, SC, and reported from Asia for the Taipei Times.
Her work at NPR has earned a DuPont-Columbia award and a Gracie Award from the Alliance for Women in Media for her video series, Elise Tries. Her previous work has earned a Gannett Foundation Award for Innovation in Watchdog Journalism, a National Edward R. Murrow award for best online video, and beat reporting awards from the Texas Associated Press. The Austin Chronicle once dubiously named her the "Best TV Reporter Who Can Write."
Outside of work, Hu has taught digital journalism at Northwestern University and Georgetown University's journalism schools and served as a guest co-host for TWIT.tv's program, Tech News Today. She's on the board of Grist Magazine and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
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The White House has been critical of Rodrigo Duterte for the killing of thousands of suspected drug dealers since he took office. A planned meeting between the two leaders was canceled. -
President Obama made history Tuesday — as the first sitting U.S. president to visit the Southeast Asian nation of Laos. He'll use the visit to talk about U.S. foreign policy with regards to Asia.
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North Korean karaoke videos in the background, decent food and a free copy of the works of Kim Il Sung: a dispatch from inside one of Pyongyang's currency-making outposts. -
In a historic step toward rebuilding relations with the poor, heavily-bombed nation, the president will join other world leaders there, after wrapping another big global meeting in Hangzhou, China. -
After the device launched in early August, dozens of users reported that their waterproof smartphones caught fire or exploded. Samsung traced the problem to its battery and promises replacements. -
The film's themes reflect the strains of modern Korea: distrust of government and institutions, disdain for corporate leaders and a sense everyone's in it for themselves. -
Even as China presses ahead with a military buildup in the South China Sea, the U.S. invited it to take part in the world's largest naval exercise at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. -
Defections appear to be on the rise, but it's difficult to tell what that means about relations between North and South — or the stability of Kim Jong Un's regime. -
In a mountain town, schoolboys in traditional loincloths keep up a 300-year tradition. The hadaka matsuri festivals, rooted in Shinto tradition, take place to bring purification, luck and prosperity. -
Emperor Akihito said his age and poor health could make the performance of his duties impossible. But Japanese law doesn't allow for the emperor to step down.
