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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Daegu, the center of South Korea's coronavirus outbreak, tries to figure out an effective way to tackle the disease.
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With 833 cases, the country now says it is on "red alert" and is taking measures to contain the disease.
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The Coronavirus is spreading, and worries are intensifying in three more hot spots: Italy, Iran and South Korea. The World Health Organization says the window to contain it is narrowing.
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The new coronavirus has spread to South Korea. NPR's Anthony Kuhn discusses the situation in that country.
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South Korea is the latest front in the battle to stop the spread of COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus. More than 200 people are now infected in the country.
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Pyongyang says it has mobilized to fight for its "national survival." Experts say North Korea's track record of fighting epidemics does not bode well for its handling of the coronavirus outbreak.
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Kim Jong Un did not follow through on warnings about a harder line nuclear stance. Analysts say North Korea may be waiting to gauge President Trump's political prospects in 2020.
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The North Korean leader made his remarks to a session of the ruling Workers Party Central Committee. He accused the U.S. of failing to reciprocate the North's diplomatic gestures.
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South Korea was once the largest source of children for international adoptions. Now some adoptees are building ties with birth family members. Critics say South Korean adoption laws need improvement.
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President Trump downplayed North Korea's threat of a "Christmas present" if the U.S. doesn't roll back economic sanctions by the end of the year. Also, Notre Dame won't hold a Christmas mass.
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Since 1952, the cherry blossom party has given Japan's well-connected a chance to rub elbows with national leaders. This year's gala has blossomed into a political scandal for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
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North Korea has said that the U.S. has until the end of this year to offer Pyongyang concessions, or the North says it will quit negotiations and adopt a new strategy.