Ken Moritsugu named to lead AP's news coverage of China The Associated Press has named Ken Moritsugu, an accomplished reporter, editor and news leader with extensive experience in Asia, as its new Greater China News Director

BANGKOK -- The Associated Press on Thursday named Ken Moritsugu, an accomplished reporter, editor and news leader with extensive experience in Asia, as its new Greater China News Director.

From a base in Beijing, Moritsugu will lead AP's coverage of the world's most populous country as it undergoes dramatic change at home while expanding its influence far beyond its borders. He will oversee reporters, photographers, videojournalists and researchers in the Chinese capital and in AP bureaus in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Taipei, Taiwan.

"Ken is a talented and thoughtful journalist who has helped reshape AP newsrooms to better serve the needs of our audiences wherever they are — in print, on TV, on their phones and online," said Asia-Pacific News Director Adam Schreck. "We're certain he will take the China team's record of ambitious and illuminating work to new heights."

In his current role as the AP's news director for Japan and the Koreas, Moritsugu helped steer the news agency's coverage of the warming of relations between North and South Korea that laid the groundwork for last year's first meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The two leaders met again in Vietnam this week.

Moritsugu, 56, joined the AP in 2007 as Asia enterprise editor in the company's Asia-Pacific regional headquarters in Bangkok, overseeing major projects including "China's Reach," an award-winning, data-driven series. He was appointed Tokyo bureau chief in 2013 and promoted to news director in 2017.

"Ken's wide experience, sharp news instincts and strong mentoring skills position him as the perfect leader for an AP China operation that is bursting with talent. We're proud of the coverage our bureaus are doing on this globally important story, and confident that Ken can help lead our top-rate staff to the strongest possible journalism," said Sally Buzbee, AP's executive editor.

A graduate of Princeton University, Moritsugu started his journalism career at The Japan Times in Tokyo. He later was a reporter for the St. Petersburg Times, Newsday, and the Knight-Ridder Washington bureau, and worked as a freelance journalist in India.

He has held several leadership posts in the Asian American Journalists Association, including Asia chapter president.

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