15 Facts About Jaehoon Ahn

Jaehoon Ahn was a Korean-born American journalist and researcher.

Jaehoon Ahn was the founding director of Radio Free Asia's Korean language service in 1997 and a board member of US Committee for Human Rights in North Korea.

Jaehoon Ahn was born on May 13,1941, in Pyongyang, Heian'nan-do, Korea, Empire of Japan, now North Korea.

Jaehoon Ahn fled with his family from their home in Pyongyang, where his family had lived for generations, to South Korea during the night when he was five years old to escape Communism.

Jaehoon Ahn took a position as a reporter for JoongAng Ilbo, where he covered the Six-Day War as a foreign correspondent for the newspaper.

Jaehoon Ahn moved to the United States during the late 1960s and settled in the Washington, DC metropolitan area.

Jaehoon Ahn joined the staff of The Washington Post in 1969 as an assistant librarian for the newspaper's research department.

Jaehoon Ahn retired from the research department of The Washington Post in 1996.

Jaehoon Ahn worked for a Seoul-headquartered daily newspaper, where he helped to create the newspaper's style section and reorganize the structure of the newsroom.

In 1997, Jaehoon Ahn was hired as the founding director of Radio Free Asia's fledgling Korean language service.

Jaehoon Ahn launched the RFA's Korea language service's first half hour of programming and hired the service's first five staff members and journalists.

Jaehoon Ahn expanded the half-hour format to a longer show and managed to report directly from North Korea during his tenure as director.

Jaehoon Ahn moved to Sandbridge Beach in southern Virginia Beach upon his retirement.

Jaehoon Ahn died from complications from a bleeding ulcer at a hospital in Virginia Beach, Virginia, on June 1,2011, at the age of 70.

Jaehoon Ahn was survived by his wife, Soonhoon Lee Ahn, whom he had been married to for 42 years; two daughters, Soomie Lee Ahn and Yoomie Lee Ahn; four sisters; one brother; and three grandchildren.