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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A summit between leaders of China and Taiwan this Saturday will be the first in more than 60 years. It complicates Taiwan's already high-stakes presidential race. -
The presidents plan to hold their historic session in Singapore. A Taiwanese spokesman said they would talk about improved relations, but wouldn't make any agreements. -
Leaders of the three countries gather in Seoul to talk over trade potential and attempt to put aside longstanding tensions over history and territorial matters. -
Seoul artists are taking on the rapper PSY in a real estate rift pitting creative types against commercial interests. The man known for Gangnam Style "is not a good building owner," one artist says. -
In a basement in Tokyo, line dancers and country music crooners help transport bargoers from Japan's capital to the Lone Star State. -
President Obama is hosting South Korea's president at the White House to reaffirm one of America's longest-running alliances in Asia. The long-vexing question on the agenda: North Korea. -
For the first time since World War II, Japan's military can fight beyond its borders. The move sparked weeks of protests even though the likelihood of involvement in a foreign war appears quite small. -
The landmark Hotel Okura's design didn't meet the need for more rooms for the 2020 Summer Olympics. Now, an icon of Japanese mid-century modern architecture will disappear. -
North Korea has been holding South Korean national Joo Won-moon since April, after he admitted to illegally crossing the border in hopes of a "great event." -
Baby showers, weddings, even meet-the-parent weekends don't have to include your actual loved ones, at least not in South Korea. A cottage casting industry exists to help fill your life-staging needs.
