Phuc, Kim (c. 1963–)

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Phuc, Kim (c. 1963–)

Vietnamese icon and activist. Name variations: Phan Thi Kim Phuc. Born c. 1963; attended college in Cuba; married in 1992; children: 2.

At age 9 (1972), with her clothes burned off her body by napalm, ran naked from her village, her arms outstretched, screaming in agony (the Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph of that moment, taken by Nick Ut before he hurried her to a hospital, is perhaps the best-known image of the Vietnam War); received treatment for burns covering much of her body well into adulthood; sought political asylum in Canada (1992); founded the Kim Foundation to assist noncombatants victimized by war and was named a Goodwill Ambassador for a Culture of Peace by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO, 1997).

See also Denise Chong, The Girl in the Picture: The Story of Kim Phuc, the Photograph, and the Vietnam War (Viking, 2000); and Women in World History.