Veteran journalist and editor-in-chief of the Thailand-based New Era Journal Kyemon U Thaung died in exile in the US state of Florida last Thursday at the age of 82.
Kyemon U Thaung passed away at a medical centre in Fort Lauderdale where he had been admitted in mid-March with lung and heart problems.
He was born Tin Maung on 4 October 1926 in Nyaung U township, Mandalay division, to U Thar Phan and Daw Oak.
Kyemon U Thaung entered the world of journalism in 1947 and went on to become Burma’s longest-serving journalist, writing for over 60 years.
He took up the position of editor-in-chief of Burma’s Era newspaper in 1951, and started his own newspaper Kyemon [The Mirror] in 1957.
Kyemon gained widespread popularity and is still in operation today, but was nationalised after the Ne Win government came to power and Kyemon U Thaung was jailed.
Kyemon U Thaung left Burma for the US in 1977 and continued to write in exile.
