Khmer Rouge Insist Pol Pot Has Retired

The Khmer Rouge guerrillas, making a rare mention of the man who orchestrated their 1975-79 reign of terror in Cambodia, said Monday that Pol Pot has definitely retired.

The statement was issued at a time of increased concern over a Khmer Rouge refusal to go along with a U.N.-supervised peace plan for Cambodia and speculation they may have a secret agenda to regain total power.

It has been widely assumed that the seldom-seen Pol Pot is still directing the Communist group from secret bases.

“There have been untrue reports about Pol Pot for some time,” said a broadcast on Khmer Rouge Radio monitored by the British Broadcasting Corp.

“The Party of Democratic Kampuchea (Cambodia) would like to confirm that Pol Pot has been retired since he was 60 years old. Since then, Pol Pot has stopped holding any active posts or engaging in daily duties,” it said. Pol Pot is 64.

The Khmer Rouge’s current president and nominal leader is Khieu Samphan, Pol Pot’s right-hand man during their “Killing Fields” years.

One Bangkok-based diplomat dismissed Monday’s reiteration of Pol Pot’s retirement as “just propaganda.”

Pol Pot’s exact whereabouts for the past several years have been a mystery to the public.