The woman who became known as the "Napalm girl" after her appearance in an iconic Vietnam war photo has won a German peace prize.

Kim Phuc became known worldwide when she was pictured aged nine running down a road crying and naked, with burns across her body, after a napalm bomb was dropped on her village.

The photo, taken by Nick Ut, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973, a year after it was taken, and now more than four decades on, Ms Phuc, 55, has won the Dresden Prize in recognition of her work with UNESCO and children wounded in war.

Past recipients of the Dresden Prize include former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and American civil rights activist, Tommie Smith, and the Duke of Kent.

Image: Vietnam war survivor Kim Phuc Phan Thi in front of the photo for which she is known

In explaining why she was given the prize, the organisation said that for a long time Ms Phuc had wanted to escape her association with the picture, which reminded her constantly of the day everything changed for her.


The statement adds: "That is, until Kim could bring herself to accept as her personal fate, that she cannot escape the photo. Until she understood that it represents rather a mandate directed to her; until she was able to see it as a gift.

"She became a goodwill ambassador for UNESCO, founded an organisation for children wounded and maimed in war, and speaks each year to thousands of people.

"And they listen to her, especially when she, who today still suffers under the pains from that napalm attack, speaks of reconciliation, without which there cannot be peace. They listen especially when she calls to forgiveness."

The statement continues: "We live in times during which hate is generally at large. But it is repeatedly the victims of violence and war who renounce hate.

"And in doing so they demonstrate human greatness, to the shame of the preachers of hate. Kim Phuc Phan Thi has shown just such greatness and so has become a worldwide exemplar."

The prize includes €10,000 (£8,700) and is presented at the Semper Opera House in Dresden.