The Royal Government of National Union of Kampuchea (, GRUNK; ) was a government-in-exile of Cambodia, based in Beijing and Hong Kong, that was in existence between 1970 and 1976, and was briefly in control of the country starting from 1975.
The GRUNK was based on a coalition (the FUNK, acronym for "National United Front of Kampuchea") between the supporters of exiled Head of State Prince Norodom Sihanouk and the Khmer Rouge ("Red Khmer", an appellation he had himself coined for the members of the Communist Party of Kampuchea). It was formed, with Chinese backing, shortly after Sihanouk had been deposed in the 1970 Cambodian coup d'état; the Khmer Rouge insurgents had until that point been fighting Sihanouk's Sangkum regime.
Formation
In March 1970, Sihanouk was deposed in a coup led by rightist members of his own government: the Prime Minister Lon Nol, his deputy Prince Sisowath Sirik Matak, and In Tam. Sihanouk, who was on a trip abroad, initially called for a large-scale popular uprising against the coup via Beijing Radio on 23 March proclaiming a Government of National Union.
Sihanouk's own version of the Front's formation, published while it was still in existence, is rather different from versions given by later commentators. He stated that he had immediately decided to form a Government of National Union while on the plane between Moscow and Beijing, and that he was pleased to receive a message, dated three days after his subsequent radio broadcast, from the three "leading Khmers Rouges [...] three of our outstanding intellectuals" – Hou Yuon, Hu Nim and Khieu Samphan, all three of whom had been involved with Sihanouk's Sangkum in the 1960s.Norodom Sihanouk, My War with the CIA, Random House, 1973, p.62
In fact, it seems that Sihanouk arrived in Beijing uncertain as to what his next move should be, and it was only after a secret March 21 meeting with premier Pham Van Dong of North Vietnam and Zhou Enlai – the latter being a longstanding supporter of Sihanouk – that he finally decided to ally himself with the Cambodian communists he had been fighting for the past decade; it seems likely that a desire for revenge on Lon Nol, pride, and possible suspicions of an American role in the coup may have precipitated the decision.Shawcross, W. Sideshow: Kissinger, Nixon, and the Destruction of Cambodia, Simon & Schuster, 1979, p.125 "I had chosen," Sihanouk commented later, "not to be with the Americans or the communists [...] It was Lon Nol who obliged me to choose between them."
The GRUNK was officially announced on May 5: it was immediately recognised by China.
The formation of the GRUNK under Sihanouk offered the Khmer Rouge leadership a way of obtaining both international recognition and of enlisting the support of the Cambodian peasantry, who were overwhelmingly royalist and conservative, in their fight against Lon Nol's Khmer Republic. Communist forces were rapidly swelled by rural Cambodians, attracted by Sihanouk's name and angry at the casualties caused by American bombing. For Sihanouk, the support of the communists enabled him to continue his bid to regain power and to secure the backing of the North Vietnamese (whose forces occupied swathes of rural Cambodia) and of China. However, it is likely that Sihanouk was conscious that the more hardline elements of the Khmer Rouge would seek his eventual removal; his plan therefore depended on attracting American support for his 'national unity' movement. As the Nixon administration had made a conscious decision to back Lon Nol, this was an unlikely gamble.
Composition The government was headed by Sihanouk as head of state. The Prime Minister was lawyer and veteran centrist politician Penn Nouth, Sihanouk's political adviser, who had several times served in this capacity both under the French colonial regime and as part of the Sangkum. Khieu Samphan – who remained within the "liberated areas" of Cambodia, allowing the GRUNK to claim not to be a government-in-exile – was deputy premier, minister of defense, and chief of the GRUNK's armed forces. Hou Yuon, a popular and relatively liberal figure amongst the communists, was given several portfolios including that of minister for cooperatives, while Hu Nim was Minister of Information.Tyner, J. The killing of Cambodia, Ashgate, 2008, p.73 Nouth, Samphan, Yuon and Nim were all men with a high profile and levels of popularity amongst the Cambodian populace, particularly the latter two, who had often spoken in favour of the rights of the rural peasantry.
Command of the military was however in reality in the hands of Saloth Sar, whose presence in the senior levels of the Khmer Rouge (along with Nuon Chea, Son Sen and Ieng Sary) was kept essentially secret. The Front's military forces on the field, the Cambodian People's National Liberation Armed Forces (CPNLAF) were initially small, and most of the early fighting in the Cambodian Civil War was in fact carried out by North Vietnamese forces with CPNLAF assistance.
Sihanouk's relationship with the Khmer Rouge leadership was always rather strained. While Yuon, Nim, and Samphan had a long experience of being castigated and humiliated by Sihanouk during their years as Sangkum deputies and earlier, Sihanouk had a particular personal dislike for Ieng Sary, who in 1971 was assigned from Hanoi with the express mission of keeping Sihanouk under control. Sihanouk repeatedly (and quite incorrectly) accused him of being a North Vietnamese agent, and forced Sary to sit through risqué films obtained from the French embassy, revelling in his obvious discomfort.Shawcross, pp.255–256 Sary, for his part, attempted to spread dissent in the royal entourage, and between Sihanouk and Penn Nouth.
+Cabinet of GRUNKPositionNameTook office Left officePolitical factionNotesHead of StateNorodom Sihanouk5 May 1970April 1976SihanoukistIn BeijingPrime MinisterPenn Nouth5 May 1970April 1976SihanoukistIn BeijingAssistant MinisterKeat Chhon1970SihanoukistIn BeijingVice Prime Minister, Minister of National DefenseKhieu Samphan5 May 1970Khmer RougeIn CambodiaAs Vice Prime Minister since August 1970Minister of Foreign AffairsSarin Chhak5 May 1970SihanoukistIn BeijingVice Minister of Foreign AffairsPok DeuskomarAugust 1970Khmer RougeIn CambodiaMinister of InformationHu Nim5 May 1970Khmer RougeIn CambodiaVice Minister of Information and PropagandaTiv OlAugust 1970Khmer RougeIn CambodiaMinister for CooperativesHou Yuon5 May 1970Khmer RougeIn CambodiaVice Minister of the Interior and National SecuritySok ThoukAugust 1970Khmer RougeIn CambodiaMinister of the InteriorThiounn Mumm5 May 1970Khmer rougeIn BeijingVice Minister of the Economy and FinanceKoy ThuonAugust 1970Khmer RougeIn CambodiaMinister for Special MissionsChau Seng5 May 1970SihanoukistMinister of CoordinationThiounn Prasith1970Khmer rougeIn BeijingMinister of Public Health, Religion and Social AffairsDr. Ngo Hou5 May 1970?Vice Minister of Public Health, Religion and Social AffairsAugust 1970Khmer RougeIn CambodiaMinister of Popular Education and Youth5 May 1970Vice Minister of Popular Education and YouthIeng ThirithAugust 1970Khmer RougeIn CambodiaMinister of ArmamentsDuong Sam Ol5 May 1970Royal Cambodian ArmyMajor generalMinister of JusticeChea San5 May 1970?replaced by PhurissaraSamdech Norodom Phurissara?Sihanoukistreplaced Chea SanMinister of Public Works and TelecommunicationsHuot Sambath5 May 1970?replaced by Touch Phoeun?Khmer Rougereplaced Huot SambathMinister of Health?Khmer RougeIn Cambodia
Takeover by Khmer Rouge
In the wake of CPNLAF military successes in March 1973, Sihanouk made a visit to the "liberated areas", appearing in photographs with Samphan, Yuon, and Hu Nim (as well as with Saloth Sar, though it is likely Sihanouk was unaware of the latter's seniority). The US initially dismissed the photographs as fakes, pointing out that the three senior cadres – known as the "Three Ghosts", as they had previously disappeared in the late 1960s and were widely presumed to have been murdered by Sihanouk's police – were thought to be dead.Shawcross, p.280 Later, a film of the visit was released, which seemed to confirm that the "Three Ghosts" were in fact alive.
Though Sihanouk was deliberately kept at a distance from the peasantry during the visit, the Khmer Rouge leadership seem to have been deeply troubled by the popular adulation with which his appearance was greeted. During 1973, local officials and military commanders with either Sihanoukist or Vietnamese links were quietly removed in the "liberated areas": political indoctrination began to once more criticise Sihanouk as a feudal figure, and by 1974 forces in the hardline South-Western zone (under the command of Ta Mok) began to identify themselves as Khmer Krahom ("Red Khmer") rather than as Khmer Rumdo ("Liberation Khmer"), which had often been used up to that point.Kiernan, B. How Pol Pot Came to Power, Yale UP, 2004, p.335 Repression and forced collectivisation began to increase in the "liberated areas", particularly in the western part of the country, where the anti-Vietnamese, nationalist elements of the Khmer Rouge were in control: Hou Yuon was to cause considerable difficulties for himself by protesting at the speed with which collectivisation was being carried out. The term "Royal" () was increasingly removed from the GRUNK's proclamations.
In public, Sihanouk had remained optimistic about the nature of the GRUNK regime, stating (for the benefit of Western supporters) that Khieu Samphan "was a socialist with the same basic ideology as the Swedish Prime Minister".Marlay, R and Neher, C. Patriots and Tyrants, 1999, p.167 However, the American government continued to refuse to deal with him, and in private he had serious concerns about the Khmer Rouge's intentions, stating "the Khmer Rouge will spit me out like a cherry stone" in an interview with an Italian journalist. The Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai warned Étienne Manac'h, the French ambassador, that the Americans' disregard of Sihanouk, and their continued bombing in support of Lon Nol's troops, would result in a far more violent end to the war.Shawcross, p.282 Despite these warnings the US continued to ignore Sihanouk, and the Chinese – with some reluctance – gradually began to transfer their direct support to the Khmer Rouge alone.
After the fall of Phnom Penh
By the time of the Khmer Rouge's entry into Phnom Penh on 17 April 1975, the communists were firmly in control of the GRUNK, and communications between GRUNK members inside and outside of Cambodia were effectively cut off. Sihanouk was not even informed of the fall of Phnom Penh; he initially went to Pyongyang until Zhou Enlai persuaded him to return as Cambodian Head of State, despite severe misgivings on Sihanouk's part.
Sihanouk was given a ceremonial reception in Phnom Penh, but was deeply shocked by what he observed in the city. The death of his protector Zhou Enlai in January 1976 weakened Sihanouk's position further: after hearing of Khmer Rouge human rights abuses via foreign radio, he resigned in April 1976. According to his own account, the Khmer Rouge leadership initially dispatched Sary to attempt to persuade him to stay, but Sihanouk insisted on resigning, and was subsequently kept under effective house arrest; Khieu Samphan became Head of State.Dommen, A. The Indochinese Experience of the French and the Americans, IUP, p.967 Penn Nouth was similarly removed; the first plenary meeting of the Representative Assembly of Democratic Kampuchea, held on April 11–13, 1976, confirmed a previously largely unknown "rubber plantation worker" named Pol Pot as Prime Minister. Pol Pot was later revealed to be the former radio technology student and Khmer Rouge cadre Saloth Sâr.