Word: samphan
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...pages in the Sunday New York Times Magazine last Dec. 20. Entitled "In the Land of the Khmer Rouge," the story by Freelancer Christopher Jones vividly described a month-long journey in the summer of 1981 with Cambodian guerrillas. Along the way, the author chatted with Cambodian Premier Khieu Samphan and Foreign Minister leng Sary, and caught a glimpse of the elusive Pol Pot. He even witnessed jungle battles with the Vietnamese forces that have occupied the country for the past three years. But Jones' tale may have been too good to be true. At least part...
...toughest obstacle may be whether Sihanouk and the Khmer Rouge can come to any agreement on the creation of a united insurgence force. Sihanouk and Khmer Rouge Leader Khieu Samphan will meet this week in Pyongyang, North Korea, to begin negotiations. But Sihanouk told TIME last week that he doubts there can be much immediate progress in what for him remains a very distasteful undertaking. Said he: "Personally, I do not like to cooperate with the Khmer Rouge. They have killed many of my compatriots, my children, my grandchildren, and my in-laws. It is terrible to have to cooperate...
...that the leaders of the Khmer Rouge, who Sihanouk says indocrinated innocent youngsters into committing one of the most heinous crimes of the century, were insanely fanatical is perhaps an understatement. Khieu Samphan (who claims to have repented for his past sins and to have come to tolerate capitalism) has explained how it was necessary to incite fanatical hatred against the North Vietnamese in order "to unite our compatriots through the party, to bring our workers up to their highest level of productivity, and to make the yotheas (young soldiers) ardor and valor in combat even greater...
...Samphan's doctoral dissertation, written in Paris in the 1950s, provided the ideological basis for some of the Khmer Rouge's most radical policies, like Cambodia's complete withdrawal from the world economy. Three months ago, he became supreme leader of Democratic Kampuchea (as the Khmer Rouge call Cambodia), succeeding notorious ex-Premier Pol Pot, who nonetheless still commands the guerrilla army. In a lengthy statement to visiting journalists, Samphan claimed that the Khmer Rouge has a fighting force of 50,000, a figure that is far in excess of most Western estimates. He called for unity...
...Samphan also granted an exclusive interview to Clark, the first he has given since he became Premier. Composed, almost serene, Samphan sat at a table beneath a canopy of banyan trees as silent Khmer Rouge soldiers stood guard. Excerpts from the 90-minute conversation...