Elise Hu
Elise Hu is a host-at-large based at NPR West in Culver City, Calif. Previously, she explored the future with her video series, Future You with Elise Hu, and served as the founding bureau chief and International Correspondent for NPR's Seoul office. She was based in Seoul for nearly four years, responsible for the network's coverage of both Koreas and Japan, and filed from a dozen countries across Asia.
Before joining NPR, she was one of the founding reporters at The Texas Tribune, a non-profit digital news startup devoted to politics and public policy. While at the Tribune, Hu oversaw television partnerships and multimedia projects, contributed to The New York Times' expanded Texas coverage, and pushed for editorial innovation across platforms.
An honors graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia's School of Journalism, she previously worked as the state political reporter for KVUE-TV in Austin, WYFF-TV in Greenville, SC, and reported from Asia for the Taipei Times.
Her work at NPR has earned a DuPont-Columbia award and a Gracie Award from the Alliance for Women in Media for her video series, Elise Tries. Her previous work has earned a Gannett Foundation Award for Innovation in Watchdog Journalism, a National Edward R. Murrow award for best online video, and beat reporting awards from the Texas Associated Press. The Austin Chronicle once dubiously named her the "Best TV Reporter Who Can Write."
Outside of work, Hu has taught digital journalism at Northwestern University and Georgetown University's journalism schools and served as a guest co-host for TWIT.tv's program, Tech News Today. She's on the board of Grist Magazine and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
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At North Korea's first Workers' Party Congress in 36 years, Kim declares "unprecedented results" in recent nuclear and missile tests. He's shown greater willingness to speak publicly than his father. -
North Korean defectors star on talk shows, dating shows and compete in campy challenges. They're giving South Koreans an unprecedented glimpse of the North's experience. But it's not the full picture. -
NPR opened a South Korea bureau in March. Correspondent Elise Hu offers her take on the wonder and the wackiness of life and journalism in East Asia. -
Seoul artists are taking on the rapper PSY in a real estate rift pitting creative types against commercial interests. The man known for Gangnam Style "is not a good building owner," one artist says. -
For the first time since World War II, Japan's military can fight beyond its borders. The move sparked weeks of protests even though the likelihood of involvement in a foreign war appears quite small. -
If you've ever eaten at a Korean restaurant, you're used to the endless side dishes that come out with the meal. They're called banchan, and they're remarkably simple to make for yourself. -
The government is trying to strike a balance between doing too little and doing too much to stop an outbreak of the deadly Middle East respiratory syndrome. But has it stepped over a line? -
In a fast-changing health crisis, South Korea's government is holding back key data amid calls for more openness. That's only adding to growing doubt that leaders can handle the situation. -
Additional confirmed cases of the Middle East respiratory syndrome, or MERS, have led to more than 200 school closures and a minor public panic in South Korea. -
The spread of the Middle East respiratory syndrome, or MERS, virus has sent sales of surgical masks soaring. Do they really help?
