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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Chinese authorities blame the Dalai Lama for recent protests seeking independence for Tibet. But the Dalai Lama said Monday that he does not seek independence for Tibet — only true autonomy.
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Tibetan monks stage their biggest demonstrations in nearly two decades against Chinese rule. China's state-run news agency says hundreds of protesters joined the Buddhist monks in the capital, Lhasa. Several shops were burned.
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The New York Philharmonic's music director, Lorin Maazel, says he believes the concert his orchestra performed Tuesday in Pyongyang, North Korea, could help bring the peoples of the United States and North Korea a "tiny step closer." In an unusual move, North Korea's state-run television and radio broadcast the concert live. It began with the playing of both countries' national anthems. The stage included both the North Korean and American flags.
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The New York Philharmonic is in North Korea as part of a historic cultural exchange. The philharmonic is the first major American cultural group to visit the isolated communist nation. The group will perform a concert Tuesday night that will be aired on state-run radio and television. -
The New York Philharmonic Orchestra will travel to North Korea on Monday after performing on Sunday in Beijing. Observers are watching and hoping — cautiously — that this is a sign that North Korea is more willing to open up to the outside world.
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North Korea has agreed to provide a "complete and correct declaration" of its nuclear programs and says it will disable its main reactor complex by Dec. 31. The deal with five other countries has the U.S. taking a lead in overseeing the shutdown and funding initial activities.
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Yasuo Fukuda, Japan's new prime minister, moves quickly to form a new cabinet. His ruling Liberal Democratic Party is facing a crisis of public trust that is unprecedented in more than a half century.
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Chinese and Olympic officials are set to mark a year-long countdown to the Beijing Olympic Games, which begins on 08/08/08. China wants to spotlight its international prominence, but concerns remain about its pollution, traffic, and food safety.
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Diplomats meet in Beijing to lay out the next steps toward the goal of North Korea's full nuclear disarmament. The meeting follows the shutdown over the weekend of North Korea's main nuclear facility.
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The six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons program have broken down in China, and Pyongyang's negotiator has left Beijing. The impasse revolves around North Korean funds frozen in a bank in Macau. The country refuses to talk until the account is released.
