About

Jean Mackenzie is an international correspondent and documentary maker for BBC News. She covers major global stories for the BBC’s flagship television, radio and digital outlets. She combines breaking news reporting with in-depth investigations, building trust with people whose stories are difficult, and often dangerous, to share.

Jean has been posted in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. She most recently spent four years as the BBC’s Seoul correspondent covering North and South Korea. She covered South Korea’s 2024 martial law crisis, interviewed President Lee Jae Myung and investigated North Korea’s involvement in Russia’s war in Ukraine. Her work with sources inside North Korea exposed a humanitarian crisis during the pandemic and won a British Journalism Award.

In Europe, Jean sought out stories in underreported countries, from the Balkans to the Baltics. She covered the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in Italy, the 2020 political uprising in Belarus and the war in Ukraine.

Jean’s work often focuses on human rights abuses and political repression, paying particular attention to the experiences of women and girls. Her investigative documentary about the trafficking of girls from Romania to Britain was used to train UK police, while her reporting on women’s reproductive rights in the UK contributed to legal change.

Part-Scottish, part-Londoner, Jean was born in Scandinavia and grew up in the UK.

If you have a story, you can contact Jean at jean.mackenzie@bbc.co.uk or connect with her on social media.