Loung Ung

Quick Facts

Full Name	Loung Ung
Occupation	Memoirist
Date Of Birth	Apr 17, 1970(1970-04-17)
Age	54
Birthplace	Phnom Penh
Country	Cambodia
Horoscope	Aries

Loung Ung Biography

Loung Ung is one of the most popular and richest Memoirist who was born on April 17, 1970 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Loung Ung, a Cambodian-American human-rights activist and lecturer (Khmer: qyng lyang Aung Lueng) was born April 17, 1970. She is the Campaign for a Landmine-Free World’s national spokesperson. She was the national spokesperson for the Campaign for a Landmine-Free World between 1997 and 2003.

Ung was the sixth child of seven and third of four daughters to Seng Im Ung, and Ay Choung Ung, and was born in Phnom Penh. She fled Cambodia at the age of ten as a survivor from what was known as “the Killing Fields”, during the Khmer Rouge regime. She emigrated to the United States in 1975 and adjusted to her new country by writing two books.

Loung and her brother, eleven-year-old Kim, and her two sisters, nine-year-old Chou and four-year-old Geak, remained in Ro Leap with their mother until May

1977. During this time, they avoided starvation with the help of Meng and Khouy, who brought them what little food they could from their work camp, and by Kim, who risked his life late at night by stealing corn from the crops guarded by the soldiers. In May, agitated by screams in the night and the sudden disappearance of a neighboring family, Ay Ung sent Kim, Chou, and Loung away from Ro Leap with instructions to pretend they were orphans and never to come back. Kim separated from his sisters, while Loung and Chou found a nearby children’s work camp where their guise as orphans was accepted. In time, Loung and Chou gained strength with improved food rationing, and in August 1977, Loung, now seven years old, was assigned to a training camp for child soldiers, and was forced to leave her sister Chou behind.

For the following seventeen months, Loung Ung learned how to fight the Vietnamese soldiers. In November 1978, she left her camp under cover of night without permission, and returned to Ro Leap to see her mother and sister. Upon arriving, she found the hut empty, although her mother’s belongings were still there. The woman in the neighboring hut told her that Ay and Geak had been taken away by the soldiers. They also were never seen again.

Ung’s first memoir, “First They Killed My Father”: A Daughter of Cambodia Memories, describes her experiences in Cambodia between 1975 and 1980. It includes: “From 1975 to 1979, the Khmer Rouge systematically murdered an estimated two million Cambodians. This is almost a quarter of the country’s total population. This is my story of survival, as well as my family’s. These events are my personal experience. However, they mirror the stories of millions of Cambodians. This would also be your story if you were living in Cambodia during that time.

Loung Ung Net Worth

Loung Ung is one of the richest Memoirist from Cambodia. According to our analysis, Wikipedia, Forbes & Business Insider, Loung Ung 's net worth $5 Million. (Last Update: December 11, 2023)

First They Killed My Father contains a photo that was allegedly taken on a family trip to Angkor Wat in 1973 or 1974. Since 1970, a civil war in Cambodia had been ongoing. The Khmer Rouge ruled Siem Reap (the site of Angkor Wat). Critics claim that Ung’s family is unlikely to be in Cambodia at the time, and that the photo was taken at Wat Phnom in Phnom Penh. Ung’s memory therefore is suspect.

Ung’s father, Tro Nuon, was born in Kampong Cham in 1931. Her mother, a Chinese national, moved to Cambodia with her family when she was just a small girl. They were forced to marry against their family’s wishes and ended up living together in Phnom Penh’s bustling capital. Ung’s father, who had served in the previous government under Prince Norodom Sihanouk was conscripted to the government of Lon Nol and became a top-ranking military officer. Ung’s mother was a homemaker and supported her family. The family was quite well- off, owned two cars and one truck, and their home had running water, a flushable toilet and an iron bathtub. The family also had telephones and daily maid services. They enjoyed movies at the local theater and swimming at the local pool. Loung herself claims that she lived a happy, carefree existence in close-knit family until April 17, 1975 when the Khmer Rouge took control of Cambodia and forced Phnom Penh to flee.

Ro Leap was Ung’s home for the next eighteen months. Cut off from all outside communication and constantly in fear of soldiers who patrolled the village, the Ungs were forced by the Khmer Rouge to work long hours with very little food. Near-starvation and physical exhaustion became a way of life. A few months after their arrival, Loung’s oldest brothers, eighteen-year-old Meng and sixteen-year-old Khouy, and her oldest sister, fourteen-year-old Keav, were sent away to work in different camps. Six months later, in August 1976, Keav died of food poisoning at the teenagers’ work camp at Kong Cha Lat. In December, two soldiers came to the Ungs’ hut and demanded the help of Loung’s father to free a stuck wagon; he was never seen or heard from again.

Height, Weight & Body Measurements

Loung Ung height Not available right now. Loung weight Not Known & body measurements will update soon.

Who is Loung Ung Dating?

According to our records, Loung Ung married to Mark Priemer. As of December 1, 2023, Loung Ung’s is not dating anyone.

Relationships Record : We have no records of past relationships for Loung Ung. You may help us to build the dating records for Loung Ung!

In 1983, Loung entered the ADL Intermediate School, and continued with English language learning and teaching (ESL) sessions. Meng and Eang both found employment with IBM on the evening shift, and Loung, now thirteen years old, cared for Maria after school until they returned home late at night. Meng sent money and packages, via the Asian community in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to his family in Cambodia as often as he could throughout the 1980s; some packages either did not arrive or arrived with some of the contents missing. In 1985, Eang gave birth to her second daughter, Victoria, and Loung entered Essex Junction High School as a freshman. A few months later, Meng and Eang were sworn in as naturalized citizens of the United States. In early 1986, the Ungs moved, with the help of their sponsors, into their own modest two-story home in a nearby neighborhood, and Loung, now nearly sixteen years old, delighted in having her own personal room.

Facts & Trivia

Loung Ranked on the list of most popular Memoirist. Also ranked in the elit list of famous people born in Cambodia. Loung Ung celebrates birthday on April 17 of every year.

In 1995, Ung traveled back to Cambodia for the first time since she had fled fifteen years earlier. During this visit, she and Meng and his family reconnected with the family they had left behind, and learned of the murders of many of their relatives during the Khmer Rouge reign. Some time after returning to the U.S., Ung left Maine and moved to Washington, D.C., and in late 1996, joined the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation (VVAF), an international humanitarian organization that provides physical rehabilitation clinics, prostheses, and mobility devices free of charge in many countries and in several provinces in Cambodia. In 1997, she was awarded a Herbert Scoville Jr. Peace Fellowship, where she worked at the Peace Action Education Fund researching weapons trafficking and landmine legislation. In 2005, Loung made her twenty-fifth trip to Cambodia as the VVAF’s spokesperson for the “International Campaign to Ban Landmines”. The VVAF has, since 1991, fitted more than 15,000 victims with the means to walk and enjoy a better quality of life. Bobby Muller, chairman of the foundation, has remarked that “…what comes out [when Loung lectures] is just staggering. It rocks people. She’s the best thing this organization has ever had to advance our agenda”. The campaign won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997.

How many of Loung Ung's family survived?

UNG: Right after the war, there were five surviving siblings.

What does Loung Ung do now?

LOUNG UNG is a bestselling author, activist, and co- screenplay writer of First They Killed My Father, the critically acclaimed 2017 Netflix Original Movie based on her memoir, that was produced and directed by Angelina Jolie and is now streaming on Netflix in 190 countries.

Did Loung Ung reunite with her family?

In April, the reunited Ungs set out on an eighteen-day trek to Bat Deng, where they stayed with their uncle Leang and his family. During this time Meng married Eang, a twenty-year-old Chinese girl who was separated from her family, in a ceremony arranged by Loung’s uncle and aunt.

What did Loung Ung's family experience under the Khmer Rouge?

A child of 5 when the Khmer Rouge swept into her native city of Phnom Penh on April 17, 1975, Loung Ung lost her parents and two of her six siblings in the ensuing mass executions, forced labor, starvation and disease that killed nearly 2 million Cambodians, almost a quarter of the country’s population.

What happened to Loung Ung's mother?

So they left behind their mother and their four-year-old sister. Sadly, their once happy family was now in pieces. Ung went to a work camp for orphaned children. Soon after arriving, she found out that the regime had taken her mother and sister to be executed as well.