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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British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace warned well over a century ago about the risks to diverse forms of life in places like Indonesia. His words are more compelling today than when he wrote them.
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Charles Darwin is known as the father of evolution. But another British naturalist, Alfred Russel Wallace, played a major role in developing the theory of natural selection before fading into obscurity. A trip to what's now Sulawesi in Indonesia, and the unique animals he found there, helped form his seminal ideas.
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After decades of military rule, Myanmar is experiencing rapid economic and social reforms. But some now fear that long-suppressed ethnic and religious tensions will be hard to contain. Violence between Buddhists and Muslims that began in the western part of the country last year now appear to be spreading. -
Whether it's pan-fried or baked into crispy snacks, the Indonesian soybean cake called tempeh is catching on in America as an alternative to meat. For the residents of Indonesia's capital, Jakarta, it's basic, everyday fare. -
As a member of Parliament, she is now at times working alongside the government, a development that could cost her backing from her traditional supporters. -
Myanmar's contacts with the world are now expanding rapidly. President Obama's visit last November was a sign of that shift. And China is building major oil and gas pipelines that link the two countries. -
Between 2002 and 2009, homegrown Indonesian militants staged deadly attacks almost yearly. The story of one former terrorist-turned-chef 鈥� and his unrealized dreams of global jihad 鈥� help illustrate why terrorism hasn't flourished in the Muslim-majority country. -
A team of researchers hopes to verify a fantastic tale that British troops leaving Burma in 1945 buried dozens of Spitfire fighter planes around the country. For 16 years, an English farmer has hunted the aircraft. Now, he believes he is close to unearthing them 鈥� and, he hopes, restoring them to flying condition.
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Most Indonesian leaders have been generals or bureaucrats who came to power by building patronage networks, not by providing services to citizens. But Jakarta's new governor, who has been in office only a few months, has already won widespread popular support. -
Park Geun-hye's father was a military dictator who ran the country for nearly two decades. She has apologized for her father's suppression of democracy and appears to be slightly favored in Wednesday's presidential vote.
