Articles

Here's just a small sampling of the more than 3,000 articles I've written over the last 30 years, selected as a cross section from some of the place I've covered: China, North Korea, Iraq and Afghanistan as well as Western Europe.

Asia

"Reclusive North Korea Opens Its Door a Crack for Tourists," The Washington Post, 2011

North Korea is allowing foreign tour groups into the country, but don’t plan to bring your cellphone or BlackBerry or talk to strangers.

"China’s Other Transition: Military to be Led by New Generation," The Washington Post, 2012

Sweeping change is coming to the leadership of the People’s Liberation Army with the promotion of a new generation of commanders who mostly lack any combat experience or have ever given interviews.

Africa

"Chasing the Story," Foreign Policy, 2011

As journalists race to Tripoli to cover Qaddafi’s fall, Keith reflects on his 25 years of experience covering regime collapses around the world for The Washington Post.

Europe

"Europe’s Minority Politicians in Short Supply," The Washington Post, 2005

In Western Europe, while decades of immigration from the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and the Caribbean have created large black and Muslim populations, they have remained largely invisible in elective government.

Middle East

"Iraqis Say Lynch Raid Faced No Resistance," The Washington Post, 2003

For Iraqi doctors on duty at Saddam Hospital on the night of the U.S. military’s dramatic rescue of Pfc. Jessica Lynch, it was all Hollywood dazzle, with little need for real action.

"Unhappy Trails: A Trek Through the Mountains To the Taliban Front Is a Chilling Experience," The Washington Post, 2001

Keith describes his chilling journey on horseback through Afghanistan’s dangerous Anjuman Mountains to get to the front lines of the war between the Taliban and the opposition Northern Alliance.

China correspondent Keith B. Richburg has spent more than 20 years overseas for The Washington Post, serving as bureau chief in Paris, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Nairobi and Manila. He covered the invasion in Iraq, the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan, the U.S. military intervention in Somalia, the genocide in Rwanda and the 1997 handover of Hong Kong to China.

A native of Detroit, Richburg began working for the Post as a summer intern in 1978. He was the Post’s foreign editor from 2005 to 2007 and the New York bureau chief from 2007 to 2009. He has a B.A. from the University of Michigan and a master’s degree in international relations from The London School of Economics.

Richburg is the author of Out Of America; A Black Man Confronts Africa (Basic Books, 1997). He speaks English and French and has been learning Mandarin.