Age, Biography and Wiki

Khieu Samphan was born on 28 July, 1931 in Romduol, Svay Rieng, Cambodia, French Indochina, is a Cambodian politician and war criminal (born 1931). Discover Khieu Samphan's Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. Learn How rich is he in this year and how he spends money? Also learn how he earned most of networth at the age of 92 years old?

Popular As N/A
Occupation N/A
Age 92 years old
Zodiac Sign Leo
Born 28 July 1931
Birthday 28 July
Birthplace Romduol, Svay Rieng, Cambodia, French Indochina
Nationality Cambodia

We recommend you to check the complete list of Famous People born on 28 July. He is a member of famous politician with the age 92 years old group.

Khieu Samphan Height, Weight & Measurements

At 92 years old, Khieu Samphan height not available right now. We will update Khieu Samphan's Height, weight, Body Measurements, Eye Color, Hair Color, Shoe & Dress size soon as possible.

Physical Status
Height Not Available
Weight Not Available
Body Measurements Not Available
Eye Color Not Available
Hair Color Not Available

Who Is Khieu Samphan's Wife?

His wife is So Socheat

Family
Parents Not Available
Wife So Socheat
Sibling Not Available
Children Not Available

Khieu Samphan Net Worth

His net worth has been growing significantly in 2023-2024. So, how much is Khieu Samphan worth at the age of 92 years old? Khieu Samphan’s income source is mostly from being a successful politician. He is from Cambodia. We have estimated Khieu Samphan's net worth, money, salary, income, and assets.

Net Worth in 2024 $1 Million - $5 Million
Salary in 2024 Under Review
Net Worth in 2023 Pending
Salary in 2023 Under Review
House Not Available
Cars Not Available
Source of Income politician

Khieu Samphan Social Network

Instagram
Linkedin
Twitter
Facebook
Wikipedia
Imdb

Timeline

1931

Khieu Samphan (ខៀវ សំផន; born 28 July 1931) is a Cambodian former communist politician and economist who was the chairman of the state presidium of Democratic Kampuchea (Cambodia) from 1976 until 1979.

As such, he served as Cambodia's head of state and was one of the most powerful officials in the Khmer Rouge movement, although Pol Pot remained the General Secretary (highest official) in the party.

Prior to joining the Khmer Rouge, he was a member of Norodom Sihanouk's Sangkum government.

1950

Samphan became a member of the circle of leftist Khmer intellectuals studying at the Sorbonne, Paris, in the 1950s.

1956

Once the KSA was shuttered by French authorities in 1956, he founded yet another student organization, the Khmer Students' Union.

1959

His 1959 doctoral thesis Cambodia's Economy and Industrial Development advocated national self-reliance and generally sided with dependency theorists in blaming the wealthy, industrialized states for the poverty of the Third World.

Returning from Paris with his doctorate in 1959, Samphan held a law faculty position at the University of Phnom Penh and started L'Observateur, a French-language leftist publication that was viewed with hostility by the government.

L'Observateur was banned by the government in the following year and police publicly humiliated Samphan by beating, undressing and photographing him in public.

Despite this, Samphan was invited to join Prince Norodom Sihanouk's Sangkum, a 'national movement' that operated as the single political party within Cambodia.

1962

Samphan stood as a Sangkum deputy in the 1962, 1964 and 1966 elections, in which the lattermost the rightist elements of the party, led by Lon Nol, gained an overwhelming victory.

During his tenure, according to Minister of Information Trinh Hoanh, he was known as "a modest man of relatively humble origins who, even while minister of economy, refused to be driven in a Government limousine".

1966

In 1966, he then became a member of a 'Counter-Government' created by Sihanouk to keep the rightists under control.

However, Samphan's radicalism led to a split in the party and he had to flee to a jungle after an arrest warrant was issued against him.

At the time, he was even rumoured to have been murdered by Sihanouk's security forces.

1967

After the 1967 leftist rebellion, Sihanouk ordered the arrest of leftists including Samphan, who fled into hiding until the Khmer Rouge takeover in 1975.

1970

He was one of the founders of the Khmer Students' Association (KSA), out of which grew the left-wing revolutionary movements that would so alter Cambodian history in the 1970s, most notably the Khmer Rouge.

In the Cambodian coup of 1970, the National Assembly voted to remove Prince Sihanouk as head of state, and the Khmer Republic was proclaimed later that year.

The Khmer Rouge, including Samphan, joined forces with the now-deposed Prince Sihanouk in establishing an anti-Khmer Republic coalition known as the National United Front of Kampuchea (FUNK), and an associated government: the Royal Government of the National Union of Kampuchea (GRUNK).

In this alliance with his former enemies, Samphan served as deputy prime minister, minister of defence, and commander-in-chief of the Cambodian People's National Liberation Armed Forces, the GRUNK military.

1975

FUNK defeated the Khmer Republic in April 1975 and took control of all of Kampuchea.

During the years of Communist Democratic Kampuchea (1975–1979), Samphan remained near the top of the movement, assuming the post of president of the central presidium in 1976.

His faithfulness to Pol Pot meant that he survived the purges in the later years of the Khmer Rouge rule.

His roles within the party suggest he was well entrenched in the upper echelons of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, and a leading figure in the ruling elite.

1985

In 1985, he officially succeeded Pol Pot as leader of the Khmer Rouge, and served in this position until 1998.

1998

In December 1998, Samphan and former Pol Pot deputy Nuon Chea surrendered to the Royal Cambodian Government.

Prime Minister Hun Sen, however, defied international pressure and Samphan was not arrested or prosecuted at the time of his surrender.

2007

On 13 November 2007, the 76-year-old Samphan reportedly suffered a stroke.

This occurred one day after the former Khmer Rouge Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ieng Sary and his wife were arrested for war crimes committed while they were in power.

At about the same time, a book by Samphan, Reflection on Cambodian History Up to the Era of Democratic Kampuchea, was published; in the book, he wrote that he had worked for social justice and the defence of national sovereignty, while attributing responsibility for all of the group's policies to Pol Pot.

According to Samphan, under the Khmer Rouge, "there was no policy of starving people. Nor was there any direction set out for carrying out mass killings", and "there was always close consideration of the people's well-being".

He acknowledged the use of coercion to produce food due to shortages.

Samphan also strongly criticized the current government in the book, blaming it for corruption and social ills.

Historian Ben Kiernan stated that Samphan's protestations (such as he regarded the collectivization of agriculture as a surprise, and his expressions of sympathy for Hu Nim, a fellow member of the CPK hierarchy tortured and killed at Tuol Sleng) betrayed the fundamental "moral cowardice" of a man mesmerized by power but lacking any nerve.

After he left a Phnom Penh hospital where he was treated following his stroke, Samphan was arrested by the Cambodia Tribunal and charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes.

2014

On 7 August 2014, along with other members of the regime, he was convicted and received a life sentence for crimes against humanity during the Cambodian genocide, and a further trial found him guilty of genocide in 2018.

2019

He is the oldest living former prime minister and the last surviving senior member of the Khmer Rouge following the deaths of Nuon Chea in August 2019 and Kang Kek Iew (Duch) in September 2020.

Samphan was born in Svay Rieng Province to Khieu Long, who served as a judge under the French Protectorate government and his wife Por Kong.

Samphan was of Khmer-Chinese extraction, having inherited his Chinese heritage from his maternal grandfather.

When Samphan was a young boy, Khieu Long was found guilty of corruption and sentenced to imprisonment, leaving Samphan's mother to take up a living selling fruits and vegetables in Kampong Cham Province where he grew up.

Nevertheless, Samphan managed to earn a seat at the Lycée Sisowath and was able to travel to France to pursue his university studies in Economics at the University of Montpellier, after which he earned a PhD at the University of Paris.