Anna Fifield is the Beijing bureau chief for The Washington Post, and was previous the Tokyo bureau chief focusing on Japan and the Koreas. Previously she worked for the Financial Times for 13 years. During her time there, she reported from almost 20 countries, from Iran and Libya to North Korea and Australia. During the 2013-2014 academic year, she was a Nieman journalism fellow at Harvard, studying how change happens in closed societies and she is the 2018 Shorenstein Journalism Award recipient for her outstanding reporting on Asia. Her work has appeared in Slate, and she has been a regular commentator on radio and television, including NPR.
Anna Fifield owns the North Korea story today in a way that few other journalists, myself included, have ever been able to claim mastery over this most elusive subject - Barbara Demick, author of the bestselling Nothing to Envy An important and rigorous piece of journalism written with clarity and urgency - Sunday Times Astonishing and insightful - the inside story of the mercurial man now making headlines, and history. Essential reading - Lyse Doucet Packed with the fascinating and frequently bizarre anecdotal detail - The Times By far the most complete insight into the Hermit Kingdom I have ever seen. Full of fascinating details - Christina Lamb Superb . . . a detailed account of a regime and a personality that are normally shrouded in mystery - Financial Times Fascinating - Mail on Sunday Anna Fifield's excellent account, based on years of reporting from Korea, dispenses with the overfamiliar anecdotes about this ghastly spoiled-brat-turned-dictator - Evening Standard