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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South Korea's government recently revised its laws to protect teachers' rights, following street protests by teachers, who say harassment from parents has driven some teachers to commit suicide.
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U.S. officials thanked Sweden and China for help securing the release of the 23-year-old Army private, who went to North Korea in July. -
North Korea says it will expel Travis King, a 23-year-old US soldier who crossed over the border in July. North Korea claims that King, who is black, had suffered abuse and racism in the US army.
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In a summit in Russia, President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un showed how geopolitical tensions have brought the two neighbors isolated by the West into closer alignment.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in the Russian city of Vladivostok — the same site as their last meeting in 2019, but under different circumstances.
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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has arrived in Russia where he's expected to meet President Putin amid Western worries about a potential arms deal and more.
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U.S. officials announced last week that the two leaders would meet in Vladivostok, as Russian President Putin seeks more arms to supply his war in Ukraine.
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Local fishermen and the government of neighboring China are among the critics of Japan's decision to release water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean.
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The Japanese government says the water it is discharging has been treated to remove most of the radioactive material — making it safe. The release remains controversial.
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Japan's government says tomorrow it will begin releasing more than a million tons of wastewater into the Pacific Ocean from the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant.
