Ke Pauk

Alias : Ke Vin¹

KE Pauk (1935-2002) was Secretary of the Central (old North) Zone and member of the Central and Standing Committees. He defected to the Cambodian Government in 1998 and died in 2002.

Explore the Khmer Rouge hierarchy to understand his role in the secretive system.

Key Findings

The Trial Chamber in Case 002/01 and Case 002/02 found that Ke Pauk:

Was a member of a joint criminal enterprise with CPK leaders with the common purpose to “implement rapid socialist revolution through a ‘great leap forward’ and defend the Party against internal and external enemies, by whatever means necessary.” ¹⁹
Attended meetings with CPK leaders concerning implementation of the political line in his Zone and/or at which the Party’s line was discussed and decided upon. ²⁰
Reported to the Party Centre on rice production and other activities, disseminated the Central Committee’s work plans, held zone-level meetings with every three months in Kampong Cham, and was involved in the purge of the Cham in the East and Central (old North) Zones. ²¹
Was entrusted with executing arrests in furtherance of the Central Zone (old North Zone) purge and with pursuing security concerns in the new North Zone. ²²
Directed Southwest Zone Cadres to replace the Central Zone leadership, who were sent to S-21. ²³
Informed Pol Pot about food and medicine shortages in the Central (old North) Zone, attributing this to overworking and overheating. ²⁴
Sent his own deputies to S-21 to be killed. ²⁵
Visited the 1^st January Dam daily, knew that workers were dying due to starvation and a lack of medicine, and monitored its work progress.
Administered Sector 106 and directed the first wave of Central (old North) Zone purges as Zone Secretary.
Co-commanded the Southwest and Centre forces with Son Sen to arrest thousands of cadres in the East Zone and send them to Kampong Chhnang Airfield worksite for re-education or tempering.

Disclaimer

Ke Pauk was not a suspect, charged person, or accused in any proceedings before the ECCC. Therefore, the findings of the Extraordinary Chambers cannot be equated to findings of guilt against him.

Some information may be sourced from confessions which were obtained under torture. The reliability of such information should be treated with caution. See Decision on Evidence Obtained Through Torture.

Drag

1935

Born.²

1950

Joined the anti-French Issarak movement.³

1958

Became a Party member and was assigned to conduct activities in Chamkar Leu district.⁴

1963

Met Nuon Chea during the latter’s travel to the countryside to meet other leaders of the movement.⁵

1971

September

Appointed to the Central Committee as alternative member at the Third Party Congress.⁶

1975

Early 1975

Met other CPK leaders to finalise the plan to capture Phnom Penh, while divisions of the CPNLAF chaired by his North Zone converged upon Phnom Penh.⁷

Before 17 April 1975

Acted as Deputy Secretary of the North Zone and Commander of the North Zone military.⁸

After April 1975

Appointed Secretary of the Central (old North) Zone until the end of the DK period, during which he acted as Deputy of CPK’s Military Committee.⁹

1977

April

Attended the Laotian women’s delegation’s visit to the 1st January Dam along with Ieng Thirith.¹⁰

June

Maintained his original leadership in the Central (old North) Zone when the first stage of arrests was completed.¹¹

October

Arrived at the East Zone and was joined by Central Zone forces including many Southwest Zone cadres.¹²

December

Accompanied the Chinese delegation, including Chinese Vice-Premier Chen Yonggui, to visit the 1st January Dam to commemorate the closing ceremony.¹³

1979

May

Remained with the Khmer Rouge inside Cambodia after the collapse of the DK regime.¹⁴

1980

Headed a new Northern Front with its headquarters in Kampong Thom.¹⁵

1981

Became a member of a Military Directorate that replaced the Standing Committee.¹⁶

1998

March

Defected to the Cambodian Government.¹⁷

2002

15 February

Died in his home at Anlong Veng district.¹⁸