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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A Malaysian Airlines flight went off the radar on its flight from Kuala Lampur to Beijing with 239 people on board. Three Americans were on board, including an infant.
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Former NBA star Yao Ming is very famous in China, and he's using his fame on behalf of conservation issues. Now a member of China's parliament, Yao is calling for a ban on the sale of ivory in China.
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The operator of the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant is under criticism for its management of the cleanup after the tsunami and subsequent meltdown in 2011. NPR's Anthony Kuhn recently went inside one of the Fukushima reactors to see the efforts himself. -
As New Year's celebrations in China grow increasingly commercialized, many city dwellers are seeking a return to tradition. Some head to an ancient town outside Beijing where poor but ingenious blacksmiths created their own fireworks. But even centuries-old customs aren't immune to change. -
During China's Cultural Revolution, communist youth known as Red Guards persecuted, tortured and killed millions of Chinese 鈥� so-called class enemies. Now some Red Guards are apologizing publicly in rare examples of open discussion of the party's historic mistakes. -
A Chinese court sentenced Xu Zhiyong, a leading proponent of civil society, to four years in jail on Sunday. China's government has recently jailed officials and issued new rules to curb corruption, but it's apparently not an effort that independent citizens groups can join. -
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's execution of his uncle was about more than an internal power struggle. Jang Song Thaek oversaw economic ties with China and was accused of selling North Korean resources to its main ally on the cheap.
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The proceeds from corruption, and legal and ethical gray areas, are a daily fact of life in China. The practice of gray income, which shows no sign of abating, may make political reforms more difficult.
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India launched its Mars mission on Tuesday. But China is still leading what some see as a space competition among Asian countries. It has worked on a lunar rover, a space station as well as its own unmanned mission to Mars. -
The sleuthing exploits of Judge Dee, a character based on a seventh-century Chinese official, are gripping new audiences as new generations of writers, movie directors and storytellers tell his tale and build on his legend. His stories continue to inform ordinary Chinese people's understanding of justice and law.
