p K. Nordenstreng. We are certain that you will not only be able to eliminate the last vestiges of the Pol Pot regime, but also quickly bring the country back to normal. In this you have the support of the socialist countries and all progressive forces throughout the world. To organise this support it is important that you furnish reliable, correct information about your society. Unfortunately, because of the widespread slander and distortion of the facts that prevailed until recently, the world public was kept in the dark about what was taking place in Kampuchea. Even progressive circles came up against 128 formidable difficulties in obtaining reliable information about developments in Kampuchea. Many bourgeois mass media share the Maoist stand on the recent events in your country. At the same time, there are a good number of people, even ones holding progressive views, that believe the victory of the Kampuchean people and their liberation was only possible thanks to Vietnam and the presence of Vietnamese troops. Moreover, the world public is still poorly informed about Pol Pot’s criminal policy with respect to the Kampuchean people. For this reason, I want to propose to you, or rather urge you, to do all you can to speed up visits to your country by progressive journalists with a positive attitude towards you, who would provide objective information about the Kampuchean revolution.

p Heng Samrin. We are prepared to grant progressive journalists the opportunity to visit our country, but we are facing tremendous difficulties, including ensuring the safety of foreign correspondents. But I am sure we shall be able to take care of this problem in the very near future.

p Hun Sen. We were pleased to receive the message supporting the Kampuchean revolution sent by the International Organisation of Journalists as victory grew near. Your help and assistance played a major part in the triumph of the Kampuchean people. We know that certain people would not be averse to distorting the true state of affairs in Kampuchea, so your visit will provide the people of the world with a better idea of what is really going on here.

p K. Nordenstreng. Gould you tell "us about what position women are in within Kampuchean society since the victory of the revolution?

p Keo Chanda. As a result of the crimianl policies pursued by the past regime, Kampuchean women were, for a long time, separated from those dear to them; the present policy of the KUFNS, however, is aimed at reuniting families that were separated by the Pol Pot-Ieng Sary clique.

p K. Nordenstreng. How many families will have lost the husband, wife or children?

p Heng Samrin. Under the Pol Pot regime every single family was broken up; so far it is hard to say how many people 129 will manage to find their relatives. According to preliminary estimates, some three million of the eight-million Kampuchean population, died or were murdered. These figures are not final, however.

p K. Nordenstreng. Does this number include people who died from starvation and disease?

Heng Samrin. The figure covers those who were physically destroyed, who perished in prison torture chambers or who died from starvation and disease. There is not a single family in Kampuchea today that did not suffer from the repressions in which an enormous number of people perished. This refers primarily to intellectuals, engineers, and skilled workers, that is, to those with any education at all.