Khmer Rouge Radio - Circa 1992-1993

In April 1975, the Khmer Rouge (the name for the Communist Party of Cambodia) seized power in Phnom Penh establishing what was called Democratic Kampuchea. It was estimated that at least 90% of the foreign aid to the Khmer Rouge came from China. In June 1975, Pol Pot and other officials of the Khmer Rouge met with Mao Zedong in Beijing, receiving Mao's approval and advice; in addition, Mao also taught Pot his "Theory of Continuing Revolution under the Dictatorship of the Proletariat. What occurred under the Khmer Rouge is now a part of history — one of the worst genocides that the world has ever known. The Khmer Rouge were overthrown by the military of Vietnam in 1979, with many key Khmer Rouge officials fleeing fled to Thailand. But for many years, a Soviet Union and Vietnam-supported government in Phnom Penh held Cambodia's United Nations seat, right up until the point in 1993, when elections were held under a United Nations peackeeping effort (UNTAC) which included disarming of the various factions in Cambodia leading to a democratic election.

As part of my reporting in the 1990’s as VOA’s Southeast Asia correspondent, I covered the run-up to that election. Shortwave radio played a key role at the time — Khmer Rouge Radio continued to broadcast, somewhere in the 5 mhz range — and its English language programs were monitored by news agencies and government monitoring organizations. An excellent history of what I call Khmer Rouge Radio can be found here http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/monitoring/137455.stm

In this broadcast, KR Radio continued to challenge the legitimacy of UNTAC, saying the international community was attempting to “wash its hands” of the Cambodian problem. This broadcast was after the 1993 election, recorded in Phnom Penh where I was on one of my numerous trips covering the Cambodian story. At one point after the election, I traveled from Thailand along the Thai-Cambodia border where many refugees from Cambodia, including from the Khmer Rouge, ended up in camps. There are not many recordings of Khmer Rouge Radio — which was actually called Voice of the Great National Union Front of Cambodia (VGNUFC) — in English in existence — this is one of them. Of course, in later years a former Khmer Rouge batallion commander, Hun Sen, would rule Cambodia from 1985 — he remains in power today and in 2013 attempted to ban foreign broadcasts in Khmer — media freedoms continue to be suppressed to this day.

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Dan Robinson, who shares the following recording