Michelle Ye Hee Lee

Thank you 🙏🏻

UPDATE: you can help cover rent, legal guidance, relocation to a new or safer country, storage for belongings left behind, and other urgent transition needs for former Washington Post international employees — correspondents, editors, researchers, translators, office staff, and drivers — below.

❤️‍🩹 gofund.me/7d6f0dc18

Donate to Support for Washington Post international employees, organized by Michelle Lee Among the hundreds of journalists laid off by The Washington Post on … Michelle Lee needs your support for Support for Washington Post international employees

We have launched a new fundraiser to support The Washington Post's courageous international employees and local staff who were laid off, who are not eligible for Guild protections, and who face additional logistical challenges and security risks.

Please give & share widely:
gofund.me/e765aab9f

Donate to Washington Post 2026 layoff fund, organized by Rachel Siegel On Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026, The Washington Post laid off hundreds of journalists. We ar… Rachel Siegel needs your support for Washington Post 2026 layoff fund

Please contribute to this GoFundMe to support the hundreds of my talented Washington Post colleagues laid off today.

I am heartbroken. I stand with them in their fight for fair treatment through the layoffs. I am honored to have worked alongside them.

www.gofundme.com/f/standing-t...

For nearly a century, the @washingtonpost’s foreign correspondents have been on the ground for the world’s most pressing stories. Now, our desk is facing potential steep cuts. Washington needs us. The world needs us. If you read us and need us, please watch this video and share.

South Korea’s former first lady jailed for bribery ahead of husband’s verdict Kim Keon Hee, the wife of former president Yoon Suk Yeol, was handed a 20-month sentence in a country where high-level prosecutions have become standard fare.

The former president of South Korea’s wife, Kim Keon Hee, was sentenced Wednesday to one year and eight months in prison for accepting a Chanel handbag, tea and a diamond necklace from an influential church, in what the court found amounted to bribery.
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/0...

Japan’s Sanae Takaichi is proving a surprisingly popular prime minister The unconventional leader — for starters, she’s a woman — has called an early election for Feb. 8 in an effort to win a broad public mandate for change.

Once a fringe candidate, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has enjoyed an unusually long honeymoon period since October — thanks in large part to support from younger Japanese.

Now she's making a risky bet on her popularity.

Gift link to our latest from Tokyo:
wapo.st/3LR7SVD

<3 <3

Donate to Support Gene Park's Cancer Surgery and Treatment, organized by Gene Park Hi, my name is Gene Park. I’m a games critic at The Washington Post, and I’… Gene Park needs your support for Support Gene Park's Cancer Surgery and Treatment

hey guys, just to confirm this is my fundraiser. i didn't want to ask for help, but i do need it.

my cancer is back. i am going through a lobectomy next week, the same surgery Walter White undergoes. i can't express how grateful i am. thank you so much everyone.

www.gofundme.com/f/support-ge...

The extraordinary search of a reporter’s home “flouts the First Amendment and ignores federal statutory safeguards for journalists,” The Washington Post told the court. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

[Breaking] Ex-PM gets 23 years in prison as court calls 2024 martial law an insurrection

www.koreaherald.com/article/1066...

[속보] 법원, 한덕수 '계엄 문건' 위증 혐의도 인정 | 연합뉴스 (

A South Korean court has found former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo guilty of insurrection and criminal conduct.
www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR2026...

Killer of Japanese leader Shinzo Abe sentenced to life in prison Tetsuya Yamagami pleaded guilty to shooting the former prime minister with a homemade gun in 2022, an act he tied to struggles with the Unification Church.

The man who fatally shot former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday, nearly four years after the assassination that stunned world leaders and upended Japanese politics.
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/0...

Our annual ski trip to Niseko. ふわふわ snow. Amazing views. Delicious hairy crab. Love this place.

With smiling selfies and K-pop jam session, Japan and China woo South Korea As relations between China and Japan deteriorate, and the Trump administration remains unpredictable, South Korea’s president must strike a delicate balance.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung is finding himself the center of attention in the region. As relations between China and Japan deteriorate, and the Trump administration remains unpredictable, Lee must strike a delicate balance. Gift link to my latest:
wapo.st/4pBHhcR

WBNG condemns the FBI search of @postguild.bsky.social member Hannah Natanson's home & seizure of her electronics by federal agents

Such actions represent a dangerous escalation that threatens press freedom & the fundamental role of journalists in holding power accountable

wbng.org/2026/01/14/w...

The Post Guild stands with Hannah, and will continue to fight for our members’ safety and independence so that they can continue their critical work. (3/3)

in understanding the impact of the Trump administration’s policies. The extraordinary decision to execute a search warrant at a journalist’s home should shock and dismay everyone who cares about a free and independent press. (2/3)

The Washington Post Guild is alarmed and appalled by federal law enforcement’s search and seizure of reporter Hannah Natanson’s property and personal devices. Hannah is a valued member of our union whose work covering the federal workforce has been essential (1/3)

I saw this photo right before bed and thought it was AI. But this morning, the South Korean presidential office released video and it is definitely real. They jammed to BTS and “Golden”

Former President Yoon's Insurrection Trial Concludes Evidence Review Former President Yoons Insurrection Trial Concludes Evidence Review Prosecution to Recommend Death Penalty or Life Imprisonment Ahead of Early Next Month Sentencing

South Korea’s special counsel in former president Yoon Suk Yeol’s insurrection case over his December 2024 martial law declaration has recommended the death sentence. The sentencing will be next month. www.chosun.com/english/nati...

🔊 Listen Now: Inside the Jan. 6 Capitol riot: Part 1 of 2 Consider This From NPR on NPR One | 42:53

This is really a work of public service. Amazing audio editing too. @npr.org reporters spent months going through footage of the Jan 6 rioters, parsing the legacy of that day and how it is being rewritten by the current administration.
one.npr.org/i/nx-s1-5666...

And U.S. press doesn’t think much of UK press ethics. I guess we’re all just critics of each other.

I understand that it's a sign of respect for the country's president, but it's hard for me to accept this as a cultural difference. In a democracy, where the free press holds the powerful -- especially president -- accountable, not clapping for him after he gives remarks seems like a no-brainer. 4/4

李대통령 65분 생중계 '열변'…中동행 기자들과 깜짝 오찬간담회 | 연합뉴스 (상하이=연합뉴스) 임형섭 고동욱 기자 = 중국을 국빈 방문 중인 이재명 대통령은 3박 4일 일정의 마지막 날인 7일(현지시간) 동행한 기자들과...

This is on my mind cuz I just read this piece about a surprise Q&A luncheon Lee held with domestic reporters on his trip to China. Reporters clapped after his remarks up top, and Lee said that he knows they get called "trash" when they do, and they don't need to. 3/ www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR2026...

It creates such a weird dynamic when it's a joint domestic + foreign media press conference -- domestic reporters clap after the president gives remarks, and foreign reporters don't. I noticed Lee pointing out this awkwardness at his first press conference, basically saying the quiet part aloud. 2/

One thing different about South Korean President Lee Jae Myung is that he tells reporters they don't have to clap for him after he gives remarks before Q&A. I remember my jaw dropped the first time I saw reporters clap for Yoon Suk Yeol - the spokeswoman actually asked them to. It was so wild. 1/

these dance moves seem like a decade old even in North Korea, but here's their latest example of NK-Pop boy band/girl band dancing for the people at the NYE concert

And then there's this video, of officers talking with each other about what they just witnessed.

"We didn't have a chance," one officer said. "[Trump] was still giving his speech, and I just had to leave, because he's basically just telling people to come down here and rip this place down."