11 Facts About Hou Yuon

Hou Yuon was born in Kampong Cham in 1930 to a family of Sino-Khmer descent.

Hou Yuon went on to study economics and law, earning a doctorate from the University of Paris.

Hou Yuon, who enjoyed great personal popularity - he was described as having "truly astounding physical and intellectual strength" - became an important figure in the community of radical Cambodian expatriates in Paris.

Hou Yuon was a unanimous choice as head of the Khmer Students' Association.

Hou Yuon was to serve in several ministries between 1958 and 1963.

Hou Yuon was eventually forced to resign after losing a vote of no-confidence in the National Assembly; he was considered to have committed lese majeste by not following Sihanouk's demands closely enough.

In 1964, Hou Yuon was to publish a revision of his 1956 book The Co-Operative Question, which now formally proposed an alliance between socialists and Sihanouk's regime.

However, after the Samlaut Uprising of 1967, Hou Yuon was accused by Sihanouk of stirring up unrest, and threatened with arrest and possible execution: he fled to join the communist maquis, led by Saloth Sar, Ieng Sary and Son Sen, in the forests.

Hou Yuon was made Minister for Cooperatives, and caused serious rifts between himself and other members of the Khmer Rouge leadership by protesting at the speed with which collectivisation was being carried out in the 'liberated' areas.

Several accounts exist of his death, the most common of which is related to the controversial order to evacuate Phnom Penh given after the communist victory, which Hou Yuon is known to have opposed.

In one version, related by a CPK cadre from Kampong Cham, Hou Yuon was said to have been shot in August 1975 by a group of Khmer Rouge soldiers after he sympathetically addressed a group of evacuees at Prek Por, Srey Santhor District, and his body thrown into the Mekong.