The Asian World - Pol Pot

Pol Pot (19 May 1925 – 15 April 1998) a Cambodian revolutionary led the Khmer Rouge from 1963 until 1997. From 1963 to 1981, he served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Kampuchea. As such, he became the leader of Cambodia on 17 April 1975. He presided over a totalitarian dictatorship, in which his government made urban dwellers move to the countryside to work in collective farms and on forced labour projects. The combined effects of executions, strenuous working conditions, malnutrition and poor medical care caused the deaths of approximately 25 percent of the Cambodian population. In all, an estimated 1 to 3 million people (out of a population of slightly over 8 million) died due to the policies of his four-year premiership. After defeat in the Cambodian-Vietnamese War, Pol Pot and a guerilla force conducted an insurgency until his capture, and eventual death while under house arrest.