Cambodia: From "Democratic Kampuchea" to "People's Republic"

Abstract

ON JANUARY 8, 1979 a Revolutionary Government (KPRCG) was formally proclaimed in Phnom Penh as the new government of Cambodia, while the remnants of the regime of premier Pol Pot, which originally had seized power in 1975, fled the city in order to begin waging a guerilla struggle that has continued until this day. The head of the KPRCG in his capacity as President of an eight-man Revolutionary Council (KPRC) is Heng Samrin, described as a former member of the Executive Committee of the Communist Party (KPC) for the eastern region, and a former political commissar and commander of the Kampuchean People's Army's Fourth Division. The official name of Cambodia since the advent of the KPRCG is People's Republic of Kampuchea (another change from the Pol Pot era when Cambodia was formally known as Democratic Kampuchea, the name still used, among others, by China, Pol Pot's chief supporter). Samrin is also President of the United Front for National Salvation (KUFNS), sometimes also called the National United Front for National Salvation (KNUFNS), established under Vietnamese auspices on December 3, 1978. KUFNS is the political organization of dissident Cambodians that accompanied the 150,000-man Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia in the closing months of 1978, which ultimately culminated in the flight of the Pol Pot regime from Phnom Penh. As it began carrying on its guerilla struggle, the Pol Pot regime formed its own political front organization, the Democratic and Patriotic Front for National Unity (DPFNU). The two rival fronts each also have their own radio transmitters and utilize them extensively in their propaganda war.'