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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Travel in and out of North Korea — never easy — is now almost impossible because of pandemic restrictions. Some foreign diplomats still in Pyongyang are doing their creative best to get home. -
Japan is engaged in behind-the-scenes diplomacy to roll back the coup in Myanmar. But it faces a dilemma between values-based foreign policy and protecting its economic and geopolitical interests.
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Seiko Hashimoto competed as a speed skater in four Winter Games and as a cyclist in three Summer Games. She replaces Yoshiro Mori, who resigned under pressure after complaining women talk too much.
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Yoshiro Mori, the 83-year-old president of the Tokyo Olympics organizing committee, bows to pressure following his sexist remarks and resigns.
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Japan's Olympic organizing chief Yoshiro Mori is resigning amid a firestorm of criticism about his remarks disparaging women's participation in organizing the games.
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The Tokyo Olympic committee head plans to resign Friday amid a firestorm of criticism about his comments disparaging women's participation in organizing the Tokyo Games, say Japanese outlets.
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Japan had purchased doses to vaccinate 72 million people, but without the appropriate syringes, it will fall 12 million people short.
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Pressure is building on Japanese Olympic organizer chief Yoshiro Mori to resign, following his remarks against allowing more female Japanese Olympic Committee board members.
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Despite the efforts of Japanese and Olympic officials to quash the debate, pressure on the Games' organizing chief is mounting over his recent comments that women talk too much in board meetings.
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Olympics organizers have released preliminary rules to prevent the spread of COVID-19 at this summer's games. Among the changes: no cheering and high fives.
