CNN has appointed Paula Hancocks to the network's Seoul bureau. Formerly based in Jerusalem, Hancocks has most recently been on assignment in Indonesia covering relief efforts after an earthquake and tsunami hit the country on October 25.

CNN has not had a fulltime correspondent based in Seoul since late last year, after former bureau chief and correspondent Sohn Jie-Ae left the network in September 2009.

CNN Press Release: Award-winning journalist Paula Hancocks is to be based in Seoul for CNN Worldwide, it was announced today by Parisa Khosravi, Senior Vice President of International Newsgathering.

In this new role Hancocks will focus on covering stories from the Korean Peninsula and the surrounding region. The new position allows her to build further on her reputation as a tenacious and talented reporter after more than a decade working at CNN.

“Paula is a highly accomplished journalist with a first class track record of delivering on stories of global significance”, Khosravi said. “We are delighted that she is taking on this key posting as South Korea continues to play a hugely important role across the international news agenda”, she added.

Prior to taking up her position in Seoul, Hancocks was the network’s international correspondent based in Jerusalem. She reported on stories including the construction of new settlements in the West Bank, border clashes between Israel and Lebanon and the confrontation aboard an aid ship bound for Gaza.

Previously she served as a correspondent at CNN's London bureau, reporting on a wide range of stories including the London bombings and terror trials as well as prominent stories and breaking news across Europe. She also covered the Israeli-Palestinian troubles on several occasions throughout her career at CNN, reported on the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict, for which the team won the Ed Murrow award; the Pakistan earthquake; the ongoing troubles in Iraq; and the Asian tsunami, for which the CNN team won a DuPont-Columbia Award.

Hancocks joined CNN in 2001 as a production assistant. Prior to joining CNN, Hancocks studied for a postgraduate degree in broadcast journalism at the University of Wales, Cardiff. She also graduated with a BA in French and Italian from the University of Durham. Hancocks grew up in Monmouth, South Wales.

Labels: CNN International, Paula Hancocks