Daniel Tudor (journalist)

Tudor first visited Korea to watch the 2002 World Cup at the invitation of a university friend. This was his first trip to Asia.[2] He decided to spend a year in South Korea upon graduation, and like many Westerners, his first job there was teaching English, in his case in an academy in Gimhae, Gyeongsang Province.[3]

Tudor was The Economist’s Korea correspondent from 2010–2013, following an internship with the publication. His articles covered both South Korean and North Korean politics North Korean politics, as well as South Korean culture.[4]

In 2012, Tudor wrote a piece for The Economist titled "Fiery Food, Boring Beer," in which he noted that South Koreans were known for their varied culinary traditions, but lagged behind North Korea when it came to beer culture and quality.[5] This caught the attention of Sunghoo Yang and Heeyoon Kim, who—with Tudor—co-founded The Booth Brewing Co. in 2013.[6] It started off as a small pub in a Seoul alleyway and has grown to a craft beer hub, with twenty beers produced across three continents.[7]

Tudor is also co-founder and CEO of Kokkiri, South Korea's most popular meditation app, in partnership with Haemin Sunim, a Buddhist monk and author of "Things You Only See When You Slow Down" (멈추면 비로소 보인 것들).

Tudor’s first and bestselling book, Korea: The Impossible Country, was first published in 2012 by Tuttle Publishing. It was one of the first books on South Korea meant for Western audiences, exploring Korea’s cultural foundations: from family and marriage to workplace culture and clan-ism.[8] It was re-released in paperback in 2018 and has been translated for foreign language readers.

His second book, A Geek in Korea: Discovering Asia’s New Kingdom of Cool (Tuttle, 2014), also invited Western audiences to learn about modern South Korea, though it is aimed at younger audiences than his debut novel. It is an introduction to the exceedingly popular and recognizable culture—tackling topics such as K-Pop, video games and skiing[9]

North Korea Confidential (Tuttle, 2015) was co-authored with Reuters journalist James Pearson, and was named one of the best books of 2015 by The Economist. The authors’ goal was to peel back the curtain on daily life in North Korea, dispelling myths perpetuated in the Western world. According to The New York Times, "'North Korea Confidential' gives us a deeply informed close-up. Tudor, a former correspondent for The Economist, and Pearson, a Reuters reporter, have pieced together their story from North Korean insiders, defectors, diplomats and traders, and from a careful reading of texts in English, Korean and Chinese." It has been translated into Traditional Chinese, Korean, Polish, Romanian and Russian.

When the book's Korean language edition was released in 2017, North Korea’s Central Court ordered two South Korean journalists and their newspaper publishers to death in absentia for their reviews of the book. The court said in a statement that journalists Son Hyo Rim (Dong-A Ilbo newspaper) and Yang Ji Ho (Chosun Ilbo newspaper), "committed [the] hideous crime of seriously insulting the dignity of the DPRK by using dishonest contents carried by a propaganda book…"[10]

The court did not mention the authors or the other numerous media outlets that covered the book’s release. North Korean media outlet Korean Central News Agency said in an article that North Korea Confidential was written through, "ludicrous statements of the riff-raffs including rubbish defectors two years ago."[11]

Ask A North Korean (Tuttle, 2018) is Tudor’s latest book. Adapted from a long running column in NK News by the same name, this book uses firsthand accounts from North Korean defectors to provide insight into life in the "Hermit Kingdom."[12]

Tudor is a popular interviewee and commentator on Korean affairs. He has been featured on NPR,[13] Forbes,[14] BBC,[15] The New York Times,[16] TIME magazine,[17] Wall Street Journal,[18] The Washington Post,[19] The Guardian,[20] Financial Times,[21] USA Today,[22] and The Japan Times,[23] among others.