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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Okinawa, which sits closer to China than to Japan's main islands, is the focus of U.S. and Japanese efforts to beef up defenses in Japan's southwest islands. -
President Biden hosts Japan's prime minister for a state visit highlighting tighter cooperation between their militaries. Both are shifting forces to deter potential adversaries, including China.
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As the U.S. and Japan tighten their alliance and strengthen their military presence in the country's southwest Okinawan islands near China, Okinawa's long-running peace movement is in difficulty.
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The film's release in Japan, more than eight months after it opened in the U.S., had been watched with trepidation because of the sensitivity of the subject matter. -
Southeast Asian countries could grow faster economically but they're held back by a lack of infrastructure. The region now has its first high-speed railway — in Indonesia.
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Indonesia's railway is part of China's Belt and Road plan to build more than a trillion dollars worth of infrastructure. The U.S. says it's a way to mire countries in debt in order to exploit them.
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The South Korean government is targeting a medical group, as a doctor-walkout throws the country's health care system into chaos. -
A walk-out by South Korean doctors has hobbled the country's medical system. Most of them have defied a government ultimatum to return to work by Thursday.
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Prabowo, who had been barred from entering the U.S. for two decades for alleged human rights abuses, has the backing of the current president. -
Exit polls suggest the country's defense minister is in the lead. He has both the backing of the current president, but he also has a controversial record on human rights.
