Bryan is a journalist, writer and editor based in Seoul, South Korea. His work has appeared in Korea Exposé, The Diplomat and The El Paso Times, among other publications, and has covered subjects ranging from disaster preppers and chess prodigies to the impact of land reclamation on wetland habitat.
Since 2022, Bryan has led a multicultural team covering North Korea as the managing editor of NK News, spearheading breaking news reporting and in-depth investigations that shed light on one of the world’s most secretive countries.
He previously worked as a copy editor at Yonhap News Agency in Seoul, and as a reporter for The Alamogordo Daily News in New Mexico and The State newspaper in Columbia, SC. He got his start in journalism writing for The Paladin student newspaper at Furman University, which won five statewide awards under his editorship.
Bryan is passionate about adventure, travel and the outdoors and keen to tell stories about how people relate to the environment. He thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail in 2012, lived out of his car for four months during a cross-country road trip after college and now spends most weekends rock climbing in the mountains around Seoul.
Bryan originally came to Korea as an English teacher through the Fulbright Program and worked for two years at a high school in North Jeolla Province.
Bryan Betts 