Gawon Bae - News Desk Reporter | CNN

Gawon Bae - News Desk Reporter

Gawon Bae

News Desk Reporter

Gawon Bae is a News Desk Reporter for CNN International based in Seoul.

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Kim Jong Un , general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and president of the State Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, guided on the spot the performance test of suicide attack drones of various types produced by an affiliated institute of the Unmanned Aerial Technology Complex (UATC) and enterprises on November 14, 2024. This image was partially blurred before its release.

North Korea to mass produce self-detonating explosive drones, state media reports

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ordered his country to quickly start mass producing self-detonating explosive drones, calling their development an “essential requirement,” after overseeing a test of the deadly aerial weapon, state media reported Friday.

North Korea said the missile flew 1,001 kilometers (622 miles).

North Korea says it conducted new ICBM test, days ahead of US election

North Korea said it tested a new intercontinental ballistic missile on Thursday morning, a launch believed to have achieved the longest flight time yet for a North Korean missile.

A TV at Yongsan Railway Station in Seoul shows a satellite image of Russia's Ussuriysk military facility, where South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) reported North Korean personnel gathering, on October 19, 2024.

Kim Jae-Hwan/SOPA/Sipa/AP

North Korean soldiers learning Russian commands and may be sent to Ukraine front lines, South Korean lawmakers say

North Korean soldiers may be being readied for a move to the front lines of Russia’s war against Ukraine after being taught basic Russian commands, South Korean lawmakers told news agency Yonhap on Tuesday, citing the country’s intelligence officials.

A screengrab taken from a video shows an explosion, as North Korea blows up part of a road connected to the southern part of the peninsula on October 15, 2024.

South Korea's Defense Ministry

North Korea blows up roads near border with South after warning it would completely cut ties

North Korea blew up parts of two major roads connected to the southern part of the peninsula on Tuesday, South Korean authorities said, after Pyongyang warned it would take steps to completely cut off its territory from the South.

Kim Yeji shoots during the women's 10m air pistol final at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 in Chateauroux, France, on July 28, 2024.

Charles McQuillan/Getty Images/File

After shooting to newfound internet stardom, Kim Ye-ji insists that ‘nothing has changed much’ since the Olympics

One might picture a customized velvet-lined box as a safe and worthy place to store a first Olympic medal, but not Kim Ye-ji. The impossibly cool shooter randomly dug up her silver medal from the bottom of her backpack.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un pictured on September 10.

KCNA/Reuters/File

North Korea accuses South of flying drones over Pyongyang

North Korea accused South Korea of flying propaganda-filled drones over Pyongyang and threatened “retaliation,” state media reported Friday.

Barricades are placed near the Unification Bridge,which leads to the Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) on June 11, 2024 in Paju, South Korea.

Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images

North Korea to cut off road and rail links to South Korea

North Korea’s army said it will take the “substantial military step” of completely cutting off its territory from South Korea on Wednesday, after months of fortifying its heavily armed border.

South Korean singer Suga of K-pop mega group BTS arrives at a police station in the Yongsan district of Seoul on August 23, 2024 for questioning after being charged with riding an electric scooter while under the influence late night on August 6. (Photo by Anthony WALLACE / AFP) (Photo by ANTHONY WALLACE/AFP via Getty Images)

Anthony Wallace/AFP/Getty Images

BTS star Suga fined for riding a scooter while intoxicated

K-pop megastar Suga has been fined after being caught riding an electric scooter while under the influence of alcohol.

TOPSHOT - Medical staff attend to a person on a stretcher in the popular nightlife district of Itaewon in Seoul on October 30, 2022. - Dozens of people suffered from cardiac arrest in the South Korean capital Seoul, after thousands of people crowded into narrow streets in the city's Itaewon neighbourhood to celebrate Halloween, local officials said. (Photo by JUNG YEON-JE / AFP) (Photo by JUNG YEON-JE/AFP via Getty Images)

Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Images

South Korea court sentences highest-ranking police officer yet to jail over Halloween crush

The former head of a local police station in Seoul has been sentenced to three years in jail over a deadly 2022 Halloween crowd crush, making him the highest-ranking law enforcement official to be held criminally liable over the disaster.

Choi Soon-hwa strikes a pose during rehearsals for Miss Universe Korea, on September 27, 2024.

Charlie Miller/CNN

Meet the 80-year-old Miss Universe Korea contestant proving age is just a number

After the Miss Universe pageant lifted its longstanding ban on women aged over 28, grandmother of three, Choi Soon-hwa, decided she wanted to “give it a try.”

She claimed she aborted her baby at nine months. In this country, there’s no law against that

A South Korean vlogger who claimed to have terminated her pregnancy at 36 weeks is being investigated for murder in a case that’s prompted horror in South Korea and raised urgent questions about why the country has no abortion laws.

US Army Sgt. Terry Cook and his wife, Tyrese, pose with their five children at Camp Humphreys, July 4, 2024.

Yoonjung Seo/CNN

It’s Texas 60 miles from North Korea: the US military’s largest overseas base

Rock stars get to see more of the world than most of us, but when members of the quintessential 2000s’ rock band Hoobastank jetted into the US military base of Camp Humphreys in South Korea, they were struck by the familiarity.

People wearing face masks walk before the portraits of late North Korean leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il (centre R) on Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang on April 9, 2020. (Photo by KIM Won Jin / AFP) (Photo by KIM WON JIN/AFP via Getty Images)

Kim Won Jin/AFP/Getty Images

North Korea will reopen to international tourism this winter, tour operators say

Having closed its borders to most tourism during Covid, North Korea is finally reopening, according to two tour companies with connections to the isolated country.

Se Young An of Team Republic of Korea celebrates winning the gold medal following victory over Jiao Bing He of Team People’s Republic of China in the Women's Singles Gold Medal Match between Se Young An of Team Republic of Korea and Jiao Bing He of Team People’s Republic of China on day ten of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Porte de La Chapelle Arena on August 5, 2024 in Paris, France.

Alex Pantling/Getty Images

South Korean badminton player wins landmark Olympic gold — then takes shot at country’s governing body

South Korea’s badminton gold medalist An Se-young envisioned a glorious return from Paris, shaking champagne with a gold medal hanging on her neck.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspects a flood-hit area along the country's border with China on July 28.

North Korea’s Kim ‘inspects’ flood response as thousands evacuated from China border region after heavy rains

Some 5,000 people were rescued from flood-hit areas along North Korea’s border with China over the weekend in efforts supervised by leader Kim Jong Un, the country’s state media reported Monday.

Jin, a member of South Korean K-pop band BTS poses for photographers ahead of a press conference to introduce their new single "Butter" in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, May 21, 2021. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

BTS member Jin to participate as South Korea torchbearer in Paris 2024 Olympic torch relay

K-pop star Jin, a member of the supergroup BTS, will participate as a torchbearer for South Korea at the Paris 2024 torch relay, according to his talent agency.

Gawon Bae is a News Desk Reporter for CNN International based in the Seoul bureau, responsible for newsgathering, planning and researching stories on the Korean Peninsula for the network’s television and digital platforms.

Bae graduated from Georgia State University in the U.S. with a Bachelor in Journalism, majoring in multimedia broadcasting with a minor in German.