Will Ripley is an award-winning Senior International Correspondent for CNN, based in Taipei, with more than 25 years of journalism experience.

A veteran of 19 reporting trips to North Korea since joining CNN in 2014 — more than any other American TV correspondent — Ripley has reported exclusively from Pyongyang following missile launches and nuclear tests. He was the only American journalist in the country when U.S. detainee Otto Warmbier was released in 2017, days before his death, and in 2018 witnessed the purported destruction of the Punggye-ri nuclear test site.

Ripley remains a leading voice in CNN’s coverage of North Korea. His recent reporting has examined Pyongyang’s deepening military relationship with Moscow and deployment of troops to fight alongside Russian forces in Ukraine. In 2026, he reported on never-before-seen footage from veteran humanitarian aid worker Kathi Zellweger documenting daily life and hardship in parts of North Korea largely inaccessible to foreign journalists.

Based in Taipei since CNN opened its first bureau in Taiwan in 2022, Ripley contributes to the network’s coverage of cross-strait relations. In 2024, he secured rare access inside Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker. His reporting has also examined elections, Chinese military exercises and influence operations, communications vulnerabilities and expanding military and civil-defense preparations.

Ripley regularly deploys to major breaking news. In 2022, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he and his team became the first foreign media to reach Snake Island after Ukrainian forces recaptured the strategic Black Sea outpost from Russia. Reporting from Israel after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks, he told the stories of victims and survivors of the Nova music festival massacre and covered the ensuing Israel-Hamas war.

In 2026, Ripley led CNN’s coverage of villagers trapped inside a flooded cave in remote Laos. CNN was the first international news organization to reach the rescue site, and his team was the only news team there when four men emerged after 11 days underground. He later reported from catastrophic flooding along the Nepal-China border, including the story of Kopila Tamang, who lost 17 family members. In Australia, he covered the 2025 Bondi Beach massacre and its aftermath.

Beyond breaking news and geopolitics, Ripley produces long-form and feature reporting. In Taiwan, he ventured into the mountains with search-and-rescue specialist Petr Novotny, known as the “Beast Runner,” for “The Mountain Detective.” In India, he explored the country’s enormous wedding industry, from the 2024 Ambani wedding to a 2026 report following several families through their own celebrations.

Ripley has hosted CNN feature programs including “Next Big Trip” and the award-winning “Mission Tiger.” He has also contributed to CNN’s global New Year’s Eve coverage for several years, serving as co-host from Bangkok in 2025 and interviewing global stars including BLACKPINK’s Lisa, Mark Tuan, Hyun Bin, Olympic champion Eileen Gu and Taiwanese “RuPaul’s Drag Race” winner Nymphia Wind.

Before Taipei, Ripley was based in Hong Kong, where he reported extensively on the 2019 pro-democracy protests and Beijing’s subsequent imposition of the National Security Law, including an interview with pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai prior to his imprisonment. He also covered the coronavirus pandemic, Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai and the Tokyo Olympics.

Previously, as CNN’s Tokyo-based correspondent, Ripley covered the Fukushima disaster, the Joso floods, the eruption of Mount Ontake and the execution of two Japanese hostages held by ISIS. Prior to CNN, he spent nearly 15 years working in newsrooms across the United States.

Ripley’s work has earned multiple wins and nominations at the Asian Academy Creative Awards, including Best Single News Story for his 2018 reporting from North Korea and Best Documentary for “Secret State: Inside North Korea.” “Mission Tiger,” hosted by Ripley, was named a National Winner for Best Infotainment Programme in 2023.

He has also received four Regional Edward R. Murrow Awards, a Heartland Regional Emmy Award and the Texas Association of Broadcasters’ Steve Pieringer Award for outstanding valor in news coverage.

Ripley grew up in Manchester, Connecticut, and graduated from the School of Journalism at the University of Missouri-Columbia.