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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Anger at the government's insistence on pushing ahead with the games remains intense, but Japan's ramped-up vaccination campaign may be helping to ease some safety fears. -
With the Summer Olympics set to begin in just over six weeks, organizers say they have protective coronavirus measures in place. But many experts and Japanese citizens remain skeptical.
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South Korea's population is shrinking and aging. Foreign workers help fill shortages on farms and in factories, but it's very hard for them to become citizens. Some say that will soon have to change.
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The the first international athletes have arrived in Japan ahead of the Olympics that start on July 23. The country has also started vaccinating its own athletes.
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Even though polls show the great majority of Japanese want to cancel the Tokyo Summer Olympics because of the risk of COVID-19 infections, Japan's prime minister insists the games will go on.
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The U.S. has issued a do-not-travel advisory to Japan due to concerns with the pandemic. The Olympics are scheduled to take place in Tokyo in less than 60 days. U.S. athletes are expected to attend.
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South Korean President Moon Jae-in will meet with President Biden on Friday. He sees this year as representing "the last opportunity to move from an incomplete peace toward one that is irreversible."
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On Friday, South Korea's President Moon Jae-in and President Biden will meet to discuss their alliances, mutual interests and dealing with China and North Korea.
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Tokyo-area hospitals "have their hands full," the Tokyo Medical Practitioners Association says in an open letter to Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga. The group represents some 6,000 primary care doctors.
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The Japanese government remains adamant that the games will proceed as planned, even as local governments and protesters express rising concern about hosting the event during the pandemic.
