Cambodian PM praises Vietnamese, Lao cooperation in POW/MIA issue
Phnom Penh, July 30 (VNA) - Senior officials of Cambodia, Laos, Viet Nam and the US began their second meeting on the issue of prisons of war (POW) and personnel missing in action (MIA) in Phnom Penh on Thursday.
Opening the meeting, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen praised the close cooperation between Viet Nam and Laos and the US in addressing the POW/MIA issue. Viet Nam has agreed in principle to allow American officials to seek information about US personnel listed as missing in the Viet Nam war at its national archives centre. Laos has also accepted the US proposal to search for American servicemen reported as missing in the country, Hun Sen said.
PM Hun Sen expressed his sympathy with the US government and people over the issue of POW/MIA and reiterated Cambodia's commitment to cooperate with the US in this regard.
Cooperation between the two sides in this area has paid off over the past 13 years with the discovery of the remains of 25 among a total 81 US personnel considered missing in Cambodia during the war. Hun Sen insisted that the issue is humanitarian, saying together with Laos and Viet Nam, Cambodia has been working hard on this activity. He described his country's cooperation with all sides concerned in the POW/MIA issue as an active factor in boosting national socio-economic development as well as in attracting foreign investment inflows.--Enditem
©Vietnam News Agency
Hanoi, Vietnam
**COMMENT FROM AII POW-MIA: Before anyone gets to thinking Hun Sen is some kind of humanitarian, let's look at his background.
He began his career with the Khmer Rouges in 1970 (Communist Cambodians) who by allying themselves with the 'Socialist' North Vietnamese and Viet Cong took control of 2/3 of the country. The Khmers, by 1975 and led by Pol Pot, emboldened by their meteoric rise in power, which allowed NVA and VC troops to leave Cambdia (officially), overthrew the Cambodian government and established 'Democratic Kampuchea'. Whenever one hears the word Democratic placed before the name of a country, we can be assured they are as Socialist or outright Communist as can be... Democratic People's Republic of Korea and Democratic Republic of Vietnam are two that come to mind.
Pol Pot's Khmer Rouges began an ethnic cleansing, social cleaning, political cleansing program that was nothing less than genocide... eventually slaughtering upwards of 2 million of the estimated 6 million Cambodians at the time.
After antagonizing Vietnam for a number of years, the then DRV invaded in 1979, officially deposing the Khmers in favor of yet another Communist regime. Pol Pot was rumored to have stepped down in 1985 with Khieu Samphan stated to be the head of the Khmer Rouges. Khieu Samphan was the architect (figuratively) and author (literally) of the utopian roadmap the Khmers used to displace, relocate and slaughter millions of Cambodians.
Hun Sen became Premier under Khieu Samphan. He was Foreign Minister from 1979 to 1985 after he had flled Cambodia in 1977, returning with the Vietnamese when they invaded in 1979. In 1997 he again made a move to wrest control of the country by force when Prince Norodom Ranariddh was forced to flee the country. In 1998, very questionable and disputed elections were held whereby Hun Sen's People's Party won and Hun Sen himself became sole Premier.