[Vietnamization: PRK] ] Le Duc Tho

[Background / related]

លោក ហ៊ុន សែន ថា​ មិន​អត់ឱន​ ដល់​បក្ស​ប្រឆាំង​ ដែល​ថា ​កូន​ច្បង​លោក ​ជា​កូន ​របស់ ​ថ្នាក់​ដឹកនាំ ​វៀតណាម | Hun Sen says he will not forgive opposition party for saying his first born son is really son of Vietnamese leader 

...

Theary Seng's conversation with Relative

25 October 2016

Close Male Relative: I met Le Thuc Tho once. In 1979. I was a translator, personal assistant to the Minister of Education Chan Van. It was when all the Ministers stayed in one place every night for at least a couple of months in a military base where the Ministry of Education is now, behind Hun Sen's current residence near the Independence Monument.

Theary: Really? All the Khmer ministers propped up by Vietnam didn't sleep with their family at night but stayed together at a particular location?

Relative: Yes, for security reason, but only for several months.

Theary: Le Duc Tho was quite something; he refused the Nobel Peace Prize given to him and Kissinger. And this senior diplomat who was the chief negotiator with Kissinger in Paris was the political commander of Cambodia during occupation.

Relative: The Vietnamese expert who was the deputy Minister of Education Nguyen Hu Dung (with a "y" sound, rather than the D sound when there's a slash across the D) -- deputy to the Vietnamese Minister of Education who was this beautiful Vietnamese woman, from France, she spoke flawless French -- Nguyen Thi Binh -- he told a group of us that at one Paris meeting, after Kissinger and Le Duc Tho shook hands, Kissinger immediately took out his hankerchief and wiped his hands. At the next Paris meeting, after Kissinger and Le Duc Tho shook hands, Le Duc Tho immediately wiped his butt with that hand.

Theary: Tell me more about the Vietnamese experts.

Relative: At our Ministry of Education at the old location [where PUC is now located near Malis Restaurant] Vietnamese experts came every day -- the deputy Minister of Education Nguyen (Hu Dung, I think) and several other Cabinet members. At night, they all stayed together with the Khmer ministers at the military base near the Independence Monument behind Hun Sen's house. They'd would return to Vietnam for several days and come back for several days, constantly moving back and forth.

Relative: The Khmer ministers would make passionate, lengthy speeches thinking their Vietnamese experts are listening and taking their words to heart. So naive. I know. I was the translator. They'd speak for lengthy periods of time and MAYBE one word or phrase of theirs would make it into the official document, controlled by the Vietnamese.