Additional Information

Mike Chinoy is a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the U.S.-China Institute at the University of Southern California and the creator of the Assignment Chinadocumentary film series on the history of American correspondents in China.

Previously, he spent three years as the Edgerton Senior Fellow on Asian Security at the Pacific Council on International Policy, focusing on security issues in North Korea, China, and Northeast Asia. His book on North Korea, entitled Meltdown: The Inside Story of the North Korean Nuclear Crisis, was published by St. Martin’s Press in August, 2008, and was hailed by the Washington Post as “a tour de force of reporting.” A paperback edition came out in October 2009, and a Korean language translation was published in early 2010.  His recent e-book on North Korea,The Last POW, was a number one in the Kindle Singles categories of politics and social sciences for many months.

Before joining the Pacific Council and USC in 2006, Chinoy spent 24 years as a foreign correspondent for CNN, including stints as a roving reporter based in London, eight years as the network’s first Bureau Chief in Beijing, Bureau Chief in Hong Kong, and, from 2001-2006, Senior Asia Correspondent, responsible for coverage throughout the Asia-Pacific Region. He began his career working for CBS News and NBC News in Hong Kong in the 1970s.

He has reported on the most important events in Asia since the mid-1970s, including the death of Mao Zedong, the “People Power “ revolt in the Philippines, the Tiananmen Square crisis, the rise of China, the Hong Kong handover, the fall of Indonesian President Suharto, the Soviet and US wars in Afghanistan, the Southeast Asian tsunami, elections and political crises in Taiwan, and developments in North Korea.

He has visited North Korea 17 times since 1989. He was the only journalist to accompany former U.S. President Jimmy Carter on his historic trip to Pyongyang in 1994, and has returned regularly since then.

Mr. Chinoy is the author of the acclaimed book China Live: People Power and the Television Revolution, and has received numerous awards for his journalism, including the Emmy, Peabody, and Dupont awards for his coverage of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crisis, and a Dupont Award for his coverage of the 2004 Southeast Asian tsunami.

He holds a BA from Yale University and an MS from Columbia University.