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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China's Communist Party will aim to tighten party discipline at a key meeting this week. Part of this is an effort to target covert factions within the party that threaten to destabilize it. -
China's Internet stars are widely panned as vulgar, vapid and materialistic. But China's fierce demand for online content is helping the newly minted celebs to surpass A-list movie stars in earnings. -
Trinh Thi Ngo was one of North Vietnam's most recognizable radio voices, broadcasting propaganda in English to U.S. service members during the Vietnam War. -
Viewed for decades as capitalist exploitation, tipping is now encouraged at some upscale urban restaurants catering to wealthy young customers. Restaurateurs insist it's strictly voluntary. -
U.S. and Chinese educators are trying to create more opportunities for American minority students to study in China, which has grown increasingly aware of the importance of diversity in U.S. culture. -
For the past 5 years, one southern fishing village has stood out among others in China. Residents ousted Communist Party leaders and elected one of their own. But authorities quashed the uprising.
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China opposes North Korea's nuclear tests and has signed up for international sanctions. But China still conducts extensive trade and worries about a major crisis that would send refugees its way. -
China pulled out all the stops to host the leaders of the world's 20 leading economies. China's government sent 2 million residents of the city of Hangzhou on vacation to ensure a flawless summit.
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One of China's most valuable tech startups, smartphone maker Xiaomi, is getting into networked appliances, in a bid to innovate its way out of trouble, as its core business falls flat. -
With her goofy facial expressions, Fu Yuanhui has captured the world's attention — if not the gold — and is changing the way Chinese think about the Olympics and how athletes should speak and behave.
