Mark Simkin
Mark Simkin is based in Washington DC but responsible for reporting news from Canada to Chile – primarily for television.
Prior to taking up his current posting, Mark spent four years as the ABC's North Asia correspondent, based in Tokyo. Reporting for radio and television, Mark was responsible for the coverage of Japan, North Korea and South Korea.
He reported from all three countries, covering stories such as the soccer World Cup, the rise of Junichiro Koizumi, and the North Korean nuclear crisis. Mark also reported from Taiwan on the extraordinary 2004 Presidential election. In 2004, he headed ABC radio's news and current affairs coverage of the Athens Olympics.
In recent years, Mark Simkin has been a winner or finalist in a range of international and domestic media competitions, including the prestigious New York Film and Television Festival, The Guangzhou International Documentary Film Festival, the United Nations (Australia) Media Awards, the Walkley Awards and the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union Media Prize.
Mark Simkin first went to Tokyo in January 2001 as the winner of a prestigious Asia Link scholarship. He worked at NHK, Japan's national broadcaster, and the International Herald Tribune – Asahi Evening News, a major newspaper.
In more than a decade with the ABC, Mark has worked on assignment throughout Australia and in several Asian countries. He has been Economics Correspondent and Co-Bureau chief for ABC radio current affairs in Canberra, political correspondent for national television and senior reporter for ‘Lateline'. He was ABC TV's national finance correspondent during the Asian currency crisis.
Mark has an honours degree in English Literature and a law degree from Sydney University.
