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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U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is in China. It's his first visit there as a member of the Bush administration. He joined the cabinet in July. U.S. business leaders and members of Congress want to see the Chinese currency appreciate in value as a way to reduce the U.S.-Chinese trade surplus.
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Impeachment proceedings against the president of Taiwan have begun. Chen Shui-bian was the first opposition leader to win the office after the island began holding presidential elections a decade ago. Taiwan was ruled by founder Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist Party up until Chen took office.
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The United Nations Security Council is delaying its formal response to North Korea's July 5 missile tests, as diplomats give China time to persuade its longtime ally to cooperate. The tests are challenging China's credibility as an effective diplomatic broker.
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A group of senators is in Beijing this week, meeting with top Chinese officials about the value of the Chinese currency, the yuan. Democrats and Republicans have authored a bill threatening China with a huge tariff increase on its exports to the United States unless Beijing allows the yuan to strengthen significantly against the dollar.
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Peasants relocated to make room for a reservoir in northern China's Hebei province claim local leaders pocketed more than $7 million in compensation funds owed to them. Those who tried to organize a recall vote were bribed, beaten or jailed into submission. The case typifies recent rural protests.
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North Korean officials promise to abandon the country's nuclear weapons program in exchange for oil, energy aid and security guarantees. The agreement was announced in Beijing during six-nation talks on Pyongyang's nuclear program.
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London's mass transit system is being guarded by thousands of extra police -- many of them heavily armed -- as British authorities take extra precautions against possible other attacks in the capital. Last week, police arrested four key suspects in connection with the failed attacks of July 21.
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London police take five suspects in the July 21 transit bombings into custody at locations across the city. And Italian police arrest another man in Rome. British media report that police have now arrested all four suspects in last week's failed attacks.
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Police raid a home in Birmingham and arrest a man suspected of carrying out the July 21 bombings in London. Officers used a stun gun to subdue the man. They also arrested three other men in a separate pre-dawn raid at another home about two miles away.
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Workers on London's underground transit system are demanding more radios, more secure rail-car cabs and chemical protection suits in the wake of two recent attacks. They're threatening to go on strike if talks Wednesday with city transportation officials break down.