Vietnam's most famous spy dies
HANOI - Vu Ngoc Nha, a spy for communist North Vietnam who was a close
friend and adviser to two South Vietnamese presidents before he was
unmasked
by U.S. intelligence during the Vietnam War, has died at age 74.
Nha died Wednesday after a long illness at his home in Ho Chi Minh City,
formerly Saigon, his family said Thursday.
Nha was an insider in the administrations of presidents Ngo Dinh Diem
and
Nguyen Van Thieu and fed secret information to the North until he was
exposed by the CIA in 1969 and sentenced to life in
prison.
In an interview with the Vietnam News Agency last year, Nha said he
frequently was summoned by Thieu and had a small bedroom next to the
president's quarters.
"The president and I discussed not only matters of national importance,
but
also talked over his family's affairs. Some things were known only by
him
and me. He even gave me the key to his room," Nha said.
After the Vietnam War ended with the North's victory over the
U.S.-backed
South in 1975, Nha was promoted to major general in the Communist army.
Nha's exploits were made famous in a biography by Huu Mai entitled "The
Adviser."
The Associated Press - August 8, 2002
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