Vietnam's famed war-time spy Pham Xuan An dies at 79

Deutsche Presse Agentur
Published: Wednesday September 20, 2006

Hanoi- Vietnam's most famous war-time spy, Pham Xuan An, who worked as a trusted reporter for Western news agencies in Saigon by day and sent secret reports to Hanoi by night, has died at age 79, his family said Thursday. An was hailed as a "hero of the people's armed forces" on the front pages of state-controlled media Thursday morning.

"A final farewell to the great agent Pham Xuan An," read the headline in Thanh Nien (Young People) newspaper.

An's double life as a spy for communist North Vietnam did not become known until after the fall of Saigon, the capital of US-backed South Vietnam, in 1975.

During the war, An was known as a crack reporter for news organizations like Reuters, the Christian Science Monitor and finally TIME magazine - he was TIME's last correspondent left after it evacuated its reporters during the fall of Saigon.

© 2006 DPA - Deutsche Presse-Agenteur