Jean Lee — SPARQNOW

At-a-Glance

Inaugural Presidential Chair at the East-West Center since 2025
Co-host of the Peabody Award-nominated Lazarus Heist podcast for the BBC World Service
Led the Associated Press's coverage of the Korean Peninsula as bureau chief from 2008 to 2013
Became the first American reporter granted extensive access on the ground in North Korea in 2011 and opened AP’s Pyongyang bureau in January 2012
Holds bachelor's and master's degrees from Columbia University

Biography

Jean H. Lee is the inaugural Presidential Chair at the East-West Center in Honolulu, a position she assumed in 2025 after joining as a visiting fellow in 2023. She is recognized as a writer, commentator, and expert on North Korea. Lee co-hosts the Peabody Award-nominated Lazarus Heist podcast for the BBC World Service and is slated to be a 2026 Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Resident.