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.
-
South Korean and Japanese leaders are holding their first summit in 12 years. It could lead to a thaw in ties between the two neighbors, and a closer trilateral relationship with the U.S.
-
The summit is the first bilateral meeting between the two leaders in 12 years. It heralds a potential thaw in ties, which is a boon for the U.S. government.
-
South Korea's government is introducing a new plan to resolve historical disputes with Japan, and compensate Koreans for the forced labor imposed by Tokyo's 35-year colonial rule.
-
A top aide to Japan's prime minister made discriminatory remarks about sexual minorities, leading to a wave of public outrage, but also to some hopes for reform.
-
A court battle over a centuries-old Buddhist statue illustrates how Japan and South Korea are tussling over their shared cultural heritage, and the artifacts that symbolize it.
-
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is in South Korea to reassure its ally of the U.S. commitment to defend it, as the seven-decades-old U.S. system of alliances in Asia comes under increasing pressure.
-
The first official visit to the White House by Japan's prime minister comes as the U.S. praises the country's move toward its biggest military buildup since World War Two.
-
A Japanese restaurateur elevates the plain and homely rice ball, or onigiri, into gourmet fare at a Tokyo restaurant where people line up for hours to get one of nine seats.
-
Japan announced a major shift away from its post-war defense policies, beefing up its defense spending and aiming to acquire weapons, including U.S. missiles, capable of striking other nations.
-
The policy change is widely seen as a major step toward rearming Japan more than seven decades after its demilitarization after World War II.