How did the outside world react to the Khmer Rouge?

Foreign journalists who were in Phnom Penh when the Khmer Rouge captured the city wrote harrowing accounts of the atrocities they witnessed. After that, the Khmer Rouge sealed off the country from the outside world, but reports of unspeakable hardships continued to trickle out. read more

After that, the Khmer Rouge sealed off the country from the outside world, but reports of unspeakable hardships continued to trickle out. Western journalists interviewing refugees at Thai border camps heard accounts of widespread executions, disease, and starvation. read more

For many outside of the country, this was their first look at what the Khmer Rouge regime was like. Fall of the Khmer Rouge Clashes with Vietnam broke out in 1977 and on January 7, 1979 Vietnam invaded Cambodia, overthrowing the Khmer Rouge and installing a socialist regime comprised of Khmer Rouge defectors. read more

Khmer Rouge Background and Ideology The problems for Cambodia began after the withdrawal of United States forces from Vietnam following the end of the Vietnam War. The Khmer Rouge incited a civil war within Cambodian, eventually leading to Lon Nol fleeing the country. read more