Burned Vietnamese Delays Visit to U.S.
A Vietnamese woman whose naked, screaming image as a child in 1972 became one of the enduring symbols of the Vietnam War has indefinitely postponed her trip to the United States, an American sponsor said Friday.
Phan Thi Kim Phuc, 26, decided to cancel the trip she had planned this month primarily because of health reasons, said Merle Ratner, her spokeswoman in New York.
The shocking black-and-white photograph of 9-year-old Kim, screaming in pain and horror as she ran naked down a road after a South Vietnamese air raid, received a Pulitzer Prize.
What is not shown in the photo, said Los Angeles-based Associated Press Photographer Nick Ut, who took the picture and was instrumental in saving Kim’s life, is that her body was “like barbecue.” Kim, who had received permission from Vietnam to tour the United State, still suffers physical problems from the burns.
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