Paula Hancocks

Paula Hancocks is an award-winning international correspondent for CNN International. Based in Seoul, South Korea, she is responsible for the network's coverage of the Korean peninsula and the surrounding region. Prior to taking up her position in Seoul, Hancocks was based in Jerusalem and reported on the 2008 Gaza war, border clashes between Israel and Lebanon, smuggling tunnels and rocket factories in Gaza and the deadly confrontation aboard an aid ship bound for Gaza. On a daily basis, she covered the political intricacies of a never-ending peace effort and the anger and frustrations on both sides of the conflict. Traveling in and out of the region for many years, she also covered the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict in 2006, for which the team won the Ed Murrow award. Previously, she served as an international correspondent at CNN's London bureau, reporting on a wide range of stories including the London bombings, the aftermath of the Iraq war and bombings in Istanbul. Hancocks joined CNN in 1997 as a production assistant. Prior to joining CNN she studied for a postgraduate degree in broadcast journalism at the University of Wales, Cardiff. She also graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in French and Italian from the University of Durham. Hancocks grew up in Monmouth, South Wales.