WSJ names Korea bureau chief, two others

Andrew Dowell, editor of Asia Pacific for The Wall Street Journal, sent out the following announcement on Wednesday:

Colleagues, I’m happy to announce a number of promotions for our Asia team.

Jonathan Cheng is chief of our Korea bureau. Jonathan has been acting chief since last fall and has distinguished the bureau by leading first-rate coverage of the toppling of President Park Geun-hye, the arrest of Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong, the combustible failings of the Galaxy Note 7, the aggressive ramp up of the missile program in North Korea and the dramatic apparent assassination of an exiled Kim family member in Malaysia. A Princeton graduate, Jonathan started with the Journal in Hong Kong in 2005 as an intern and stayed on as a reporter covering politics and casinos. He moved to New York in 2010 to cover the stock market then relocated to Seoul in 2013 — a track record of globetrotting aided by his ability to speak four languages. Jonathan will report to me.

Yun-Hee Kim is senior editor, live journalism, Asia. She takes charge of editorial planning and coverage for our marquee conference business as it expands into Asia. She will recruit and interview speakers, lead panel discussions, and coordinate news coverage of events including our CEO Council in Tokyo in May and the WSJD Live Asia technology conference in Hong Kong this June. Yun-Hee is well suited for this new role. She was point person for our Asia technology conference in each of its past two years and has two decades of journalism experience, most recently as Asia technology editor. She was born in Paris, joined Dow Jones in 2000 and will report to me.

Andrew Peaple is deputy markets and finance editor for Asia, overseeing markets enterprise. In this new job Andrew will take charge of a group of reporters doing analytical markets coverage and will run the regional team for Heard on the Street. Andrew joined Dow Jones in 2003 and has moved ever since between the London office and bureaus in Asia. He covered the financial sector and UK economy for Dow Jones Newswires before moving to Beijing as a Heard on the Street writer in 2008. He returned to London to write for the Heard and run energy coverage, then relocated to Hong Kong to help shepherd our markets and finance coverage. Andrew has a degree in history from Oxford University and speaks improving Mandarin and deteriorating Japanese. He also is fiercely proud of his newly walking one year old son. Andrew will report to markets and finance editor Phred Dvorak.

Please welcome Jonathan, Yun-Hee and Andrew to their new posts.