Doualy Xaykaothao

Cambodian Americans Celebrate New Year, But Honor Grim History

Originally published on Sat April 27, 2013 2:57 pm

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SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Today in Long Beach, California, Cambodian-Americans are celebrating their new year with traditional foods, dance and songs. But the festivities also coincide with the anniversary of the Cambodian genocide. During the Khmer Rouge's reign of terror between 1975 and 1979, cities were emptied and nearly one-fourth of the population was executed, starved or worked to death. Doualy Xaykaothao reports.

5:15 am

Mon September 3, 2012

Rev. Sun Myung Moon, Unification Church Founder, Dies

By Doualy Xaykaothao

Originally published on Mon September 3, 2012 5:41 am

The Rev. Sun Myung Moon, founder of the Unification Church, has died at the age of 92 in Korea. Unification church members viewed him as a messiah, despite allegations of cult-like behavior and financial fraud. Moon was known for presiding over mass weddings and starting the conservative newspaper The Washington Times.

Asia

3:35 pm

Mon August 13, 2012

Diversity Helps South Korean District Win Locals Back

By Doualy Xaykaothao

Originally published on Mon August 13, 2012 5:09 pm

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Itaewon is a neighborhood in South Korea that locals used to avoid because it attracted a high number of foreigners, especially young American soldiers from the U.S. Army Garrison just down the hill. But Itaewon's image has changed in recent years — it's now a trendy hangout for young Koreans, attracted by its relatively liberal atmosphere in a culturally conservative nation.

Asia

3:34 pm

Fri March 23, 2012

Along Korea's DMZ, No Sign That Tensions Are Easing

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Credit Lee Jae-Won / Reuters/Landov

With a new leader in North Korea, the U.S. and South Korea are watching for clues of his policies. But so far tensions have not eased along the demilitarized zone. Here, two North Korean soldiers look across at a South Korean soldier on Dec. 2.

Credit Eric Talmadge / AP

Lt. Col. Ed Taylor speaks as he stands behind a wall of sandbags overlooking North Korea from the South Korean side of the demilitarized zone, or DMZ. Taylor commands a joint American-South Korean battalion along the frontier.

Credit Susan Walsh / AP

President Obama looks toward North Korea from a post on the South Korean side of the DMZ, the tense military border between the two Koreas, on Sunday. At right is U.S. Lt. Col. Ed Taylor, commander of the U.N. Command Security Battalion-Joint Security Area.

Credit Doualy Xaykaothao / NPR

Lt. Col. Edward Taylor commands the only U.S. and South Korean battalion on the Korean Peninsula. He stands near the Korean armistice line, with North Korea behind him.

By Doualy Xaykaothao

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Cold winds blow through pine trees and across nearby mountains. On the horizon are guard posts and cameras. There's little movement, except for wildlife.

U.S. Lt. Col. Ed Taylor, lives and works on the Korean armistice line that has divided North and South for almost six decades. He even sleeps in a bed right next to North Korea.

"I cannot compare it to anything I've ever done. And I say that with 23 years in the Army and two deployments to Iraq," Taylor says.

7:00 am

Sat March 10, 2012

Boats Ashore, Tsunami Scars Japanese Fishing Town

By Doualy Xaykaothao

Originally published on Sat March 10, 2012 12:49 pm

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SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. One year ago this weekend, Japan was battered by a devastating earthquake and tsunami. One of the places hardest hit was the coastal community of Yuriage. What was once a beautiful fishing village, and home to a bustling community of thousands, is now a desolate and deserted place. Doualy Xaykaothao reported from there shortly after the earthquake, and has just returned to file this report.

(SOUNDBITE OF SEAGULLS)

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Credit Min Soh / NPR

Doualy Xaykaothao covers breaking news from Asia for NPR News. She's based in Bangkok, Thailand, and her reports can be heard across all NPR News programs.

Xaykaothao joined NPR in 1999 as a production assistant for Morning Edition and has since worked as an NPR producer, editor, director and reporter for NPR's award-winning programs. As a producer for NPR's Newscast Unit, she was a member of the team receiving the 2001 Peabody Award for its coverage of the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Before the invasion of Iraq in 2003, Xaykaothao began reporting about anti-war protests from Seoul, South Korea. A year later, Xaykaothao was in the Phang Nga region of Thailand reporting on the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. In 2006, Xaykaothao served as a fellow for the International Reporting Project at Johns Hopkins University-SAIS with a focus on women inside Nepal's 10 year civil war. Xaykaothao was also an Annenberg Fellow for NPR member station KPCC in Los Angeles in 2007, and was part of the reporting team to receive a LA Press Club Award for breaking coverage of the California wildfires. By 2009, Xaykaothao was in Indonesia reporting on the earthquake that devastated Padang. In 2010, she reported about North Korea's deadly attack on a South Korean warship. When Japan was struck by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake, Xaykaothao was the first NPR reporter to reach Fukushima to report on the triple disasters in 2011.

Xaykaothao is Lao-Hmong American. She was born in Vientiane, Laos, but raised in France and the United States. She attended college in upstate New York, where she specialized in television, radio, political science, and ethnic studies. Her radio career began at Harlem community radio station WHCR 90.3 FM, where she volunteered as news-reader. Later, at Pacifica Radio's WBAI 99.5 FM, she worked for the station's resident film critic, the late Paul Wunder. At Pacifica, she also coordinated and produced Asia Pacific Forum, a program on politics, culture and arts inside Asian American communities, as well as missed stories from Asia.

For those who are curious, Doualy Xaykaothao is pronounced "dwah-hlee sigh-kow-tao."

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5:48 am

Sat April 27, 2013