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Jason Strother

Reporter Jason Strother is a freelance multimedia journalist who’s reported from both sides of the Korean peninsula since moving to Seoul in 2006.

Reporter Jason Strother is a freelance multimedia journalist who has reported from both sides of the Korean peninsula since moving to Seoul in 2006.He makes frequent work trips around Asia and has also filed from Brazil. He got his start in the business as a producer at a 24-hour cable news channel in the Bronx, but always wanted the life of a foreign correspondent.  He is also an adjunct professor of journalism at Montclair State University in his home state of New Jersey. 

Tattoo artists in South Korea anticipate lifting of restrictions with mixed emotions

Arts

In South Korea, the tattoo industry has long been underground due to prohibitive licensing rules. With those restrictions set to lift in 2027, some practitioners are breathing a sigh of relief; they’ll no longer risk fines or jail time. Others, however, fear that the changes won’t all be for the better. Jason Strother in Seoul gives us a glimpse of an industry at a crossroads.

In South Korea, it’s getting harder to push for human rights in North Korea

Foreign policy

Big Ocean breaks barriers as the first K-pop group whose members are hard of hearing

Music

Climate change could retrigger trauma in Sri Lanka

Climate Change

To prepare for college in the US, some South Korean students receive an international education close to home 

The World's Global Classroom

A North Korean refugee offers a different view of his home country from the other side of the DMZ

Conflict & Justice

Each year, thousands of tourists visit the demilitarized zone that separates North and South Korea. Now a North Korean defector is guiding tourists and offering his view of what it is actually like to grow up on the other side.

Sea-level rise and storms made stronger by climate change threaten communities across coastal Bangladesh.

‘They forgot about me’: People with disabilities in Bangladesh face increased risk during natural disasters

Climate Change

Millions of people have migrated from villages in coastal Bangladesh to escape climate-related disasters, but people with disabilities often stay behind. This puts their lives in even greater danger as weather conditions become more severe, advocates say.

In this photo provided by the North Korean government, Kim Jong-un speaks in a conference with chief secretaries of the city and county party committees in Pyongyang, North Korea, Saturday, March 6, 2020. 

North Korea to reopen its borders for the coronavirus vaccine

COVID-19

The pandemic appears to have further cut off North Korea from the rest of the world. But now, the country is set to receive nearly 2 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine through the COVAX program.

Kim Ju-won (left) and Park Sun-min (right) say same-sex couples are excluded from incentives to start families. 

South Korea’s baby boost for married couples excludes nontraditional families

Lifestyle & Belief

South Korea wants more couples to have babies — but not all families are equal. Same-sex marriage is banned, and there are no laws that protect the LGBTQ community from discrimination. Single mothers also face stigma.

 Baek Jae-wook is a teenager with an autistic spectrum disorder and earned barista certifications from the Jayeondo Cafe in Incheon.

South Korean activists renew call for deinstitutionalizing people with disabilities amid coronavirus

During the coronavirus pandemic, people with disabilities who live in long-term care facilities have become one of the most vulnerable populations worldwide.