Paula Hancocks is an award-winning international correspondent for CNN based in Seoul, South Korea, responsible for covering major stories on the Korean peninsula and the surrounding region.

Hancocks has covered some of the biggest stories in Asia in recent years, including North Korea's nuclear and missile tests, the Pyeongchang Olympics charm offensive and the subsequent Trump-Kim and inter-Korean summits. She also spearheaded an exclusive CNN documentary called 'Escape from North Korea', reported on the AirAsia plane crash in Indonesia and the sinking of the Sewol ferry in South Korea which was honoured with a New York Festival award.

Reporting on the devastating Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, Hancocks was aboard the first plane to land in Tacloban and was the first international journalist to report live from the ground. CNN's reporting was recognized by the Royal Television Society winning the Best International News Coverage award.

In 2013, Hancocks traveled around North Korea with Korean War veterans from the United States searching for the remains of a fallen comrade. She also led CNN's coverage of the death of former leader Kim Jong Il, the rise of new leader Kim Jong Un and the plight of American citizens detained in the country.

South of the border, Hancocks has covered Seoul's dealings with its neighbor, capturing the emotions of family reunions between the two Koreas in a special documentary called 'The Long Goodbye', as well as Presidential elections and an impeachment. She reported exclusively on North Korea's assassination weapons and the story of nine young defectors sent back to North Korea.

She has reported extensively from Myanmar on the victory of Nobel Peace Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi, in the historic parliamentary elections in 2012 and the dramatic opening up of the once isolated country.

In 2011, Hancocks was the first international reporter to arrive at the devastated tsunami zone in Japan near the epicenter of the earthquake to cover the aftermath of the natural disaster and the ensuing nuclear catastrophe.

Hancocks has covered many other natural disasters, including reporting from Sri Lanka to cover the devastating impact of the 2004 Asia tsunami, for which the team won a DuPont-Columbia Award.

Hancocks has reported from many of the world's hotspots in recent years, including Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and across the Middle East.

Prior to taking up her position in Seoul, Hancocks was based in Jerusalem and reported on the 2008 Gaza war, 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 2005 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.