Grace Moon is a global audience editor at the Washington Post’s Seoul hub in South Korea, where they produce domestic and international breaking news stories, and live coverage of major events around the world. Grace also serves as the Co-Vice President of the Asia American Journalists Association Seoul and the Co-Director of the Asian American Journalists Association’s young professionals’ affinity group, which mentors students and early-career journalists. During the pandemic, Grace worked as a multimedia freelancer and Korea correspondent for Reporters without Brooders. Her work appeared in places like the BBC Worklife, NBC News, Nikkei Asia, The New York Times Video, VICE News, Public Radio International, The Wall Street Journal, and The South China Morning Post, among others.
Moon, a Korean American journalist, took off her freelance career during the pandemic. Grace arrived in Seoul, South Korea for a research fellowship right before the outbreak and decided to stay. With no community or formal employment, Grace managed to cover breaking news and human interest stories for domestic and international media outlets despite taking health and security risks. Her story exemplified the transformation of a young journalist who survived and thrived with minimal resources amidst a global health crisis. This interview revealed the behind-the-scene process of her reporting and demonstrated the efforts and courage it takes a journalist to deliver the news. She reviewed the ground situation in Seoul in the early months of the pandemic, commented on the challenges facing a female journalist in South Korea, and encouraged more mentorship and peer support to younger generations of journalists.