People's Republic of Kampuchea
Cambodia, 1979–1989. Draft, not yet reviewed
The People's Republic of Kampuchea was a partially recognised state in Southeast Asia. It was a satellite state of Vietnam, founded in Cambodia by the Vietnamese-backed Kampuchean United Front for National Salvation. The PRK failed to secure United Nations endorsement due to the diplomatic intervention of China, the United Kingdom, the United States and the ASEAN countries. The PRK was considered the de facto government of Cambodia, albeit with limited international recognition outside of the Soviet Bloc.
Seat of power: Phnom Penh
Rulers
Heng Samrin
Head of state, 1979–1992
Between 1979 and 1985, he was the de facto leader of the People's Republic of Kampuchea later renamed into the State of Cambodia. He joined the Khmer Rouge communist movement led by Pol Pot. In 1978, after a series of violent purges within the Khmer Rouge leadership, he fled to Vietnam.
Portrait of Heng Samrin: Hul Reaksmey/VOA Khmer, Public domain, file
Culture
- Beginning in May 1989, the PRK restored the name Cambodia by renaming the country State of Cambodia in an attempt to attract international sympathy.
- The PRK was established in the wake of the total destruction of the country's institutions, infrastructure and intelligentsia wreaked by Khmer Rouge rule.
Picture
Choeung Ek is a site on the outskirts of Phnom Penh that was used as a Killing Field by the Khmer Rouge to perpetrate the Cambodian genocide.
Image: Timgray200, CC BY-SA 3.0, file
Sources
- People's Republic of Kampuchea (Wikipedia)
- People's Republic of Kampuchea (Wikidata)
- About the picture (Wikipedia)
Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.