Nate Thayer, American journalist, in July 1997. LANCE WOODRUFF / AFP
American freelance journalist Nate Thayer, who in 1997 obtained an exclusive interview with Pol Pot (1925-1998), the brutal leader of Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge, has died at the age of 62 after a long illness, his family said on Wednesday , January 4th.
Khmer Rouge specialist Nate Thayer was the first foreign journalist in nearly two decades to meet Pol Pot, one of the most bloodthirsty dictators of the 20th century and leader of a regime responsible for the deaths of nearly two million Cambodians in 1975 and 1979 .
Nate Thayer, then a correspondent for the Hong Kong weekly Far Eastern Economic Review, had interviewed and photographed him in the jungles of northern Cambodia. In particular, Pol Pot confided in him during their interview: “Am I a violent person? I have peace. »
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Pol Pot died of a heart attack the following year after being imprisoned for several months by his own comrades.
fearless journalist
Nate Thayer, a shaven-headed tobacco fanatic, had made a name for himself as an intrepid journalist until he was seriously wounded in 1989 when an anti-personnel mine exploded while accompanying Cambodian guerrillas.
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Nate Thayer, son of a former American ambassador to Singapore, has devoted most of his career to Asia, studying North Korea and the fighting on the Burmese border in particular. He also covered the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.