So Saroeun, aka Comrade Rin: Khieu Samphan’s revolutionary wife

So Saroeun, aka Comrade Rin, at her husband bail appeal on 03 April 2009 (Photo: Reuters)

So Saroeun, aka Comrade Rin, aka So Socheat, a fomer KR army entertainer and Khieu Samphan's wife (Photo: The Phnom Penh Post)

Grandma Ream, Khieu Samphan's 100-year-old mother-in-law
Mrs. So Sary, So Saroeun's older sister

A KR revolutionary entertainer went on to become the wife of the DK President

Wednesday, September 02, 2009
Rasmei Kampuchea
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

So Saroeun’s life and fate led her to become the wife of Khieu Samphan, the former president of the Democratic Kampuchea (Khmer Rouge) regime. So Saroeun was born in Kak Paun village, Rohas commune, Rovieng disctrict, Preah Vihear province.

Sa Saroeun’s revolutionary name was Comrade Rin. Even if there is no clear indication as to when Khieu Samphan married his wife, or how many children they had together, everybody in Rovieng district, Preah Vihear province, know that So Sareoun, aka Comrade Rin, is Khieu Samphan’s wife and she has 4 children with him. So Saroeun’s mother is currently 100-year-old and she has 6 other siblings who are currently all living in Kak Paun village. Nevertheless, this hidden mystery makes it such that the public almost do not know who Khieu Samphan’s wife really is.

In August, a Rasmei Kampuchea reporter traveled with great difficulties to visit So Sareoun’s village, and he even interviewed her mother and her siblings as well.

Kak Paun village is located about 3 km southeast of Rovieng city. The village has several hundreds of homes, including some historical ones. The village has numerous tall fruit trees, an indication that it is an existing old village.

Grandma Ream, a 100-year-old senile woman, is sitting next to her two elderly daughters. She is So Saroeun’s mother and Khieu Samphan’s mother-in-law. Grandma Ream said haphazardly: “My daughter, Sareoun, and my son-in-law, Khieu Samphan, are very poor.” So Sary, a 63-year-old woman who is So Saroeun’s sister, said: “Saroeun, my younger sister left the village around 1970, she was an entertainer for the KR army. She disappeared since then.”

She added: “After 1975, we saw So Saroeun visiting home exactly twice. She came alone and she did not tell anybody that her husband was Khieu Samphan.” So Sary said that after 1979, So Saroeun completely disappeared, and it was not until the repatriation of KR soldiers that she learnt that her sister is Khieu Samphan’s wife. So Saroeun has 4 children: 2 sons and 2 daughters. So Sary said that Khieu Samphan came to visit his mother-in-law twice under the veil of secrecy. On his first visit, Khieu Samphan spent two nights, nevertheless, the Rovieng authority rejected this information, saying that he never knew about Khieu Samphan visiting his wife’s village.

Leng Keat, a former villager and Rovieng district elementary school classmate of So Sareoun, said that So Saroeun was his classmate but later on she quit school and joined the Khmer Rouge army. Since then on, he never heard about So Sareoun anymore until it was learnt that she became Mrs. Khieu Samphan.

There is no information about the exact biography of So Saroeun, aka Comrade Rin. Nevertheless, villagers indicated that she was a “true revolutionary” because she cared very little about her mother and her siblings, but her fortunate (???) fate led her to become the wife of the DK president.

Becoming State Presidium President's Wife While Performing Art for Khmer Rouge

Grandma Ream, 100, is the mother of So Sary and So Saroeun who is Khiev Samphan's wife (Picture by: Oka)

So Sary, 63, is an older sister of So Sareoun who is Khiev Samphan's wife (Picture by: Oka)

Wednesday, December 19, 2007
By Oka
Rasmei Kampuchea
Unofficial Translation by krtrial.info

Rovieng-Preah Vihear: Becoming the wife of the president of the Khmer Rouge State Presidium from a girl roaming around, So Saroeun, Khieu Samphan's wife, was born in Kok Poun, Rohas, Rovieng, Preah Vihear.

So Saroeun's revolutionary name was Comrade Rin. Although no sources have ever claimed about the year Khieu Samphan got married, what his wife's name is, or how many children he has, the people living in Rovieng district in Phreah Vihear province said Khieu Samphan's wife was So Saroeun, alias Comrade Rin, and that they had four children. So Savoeun has got a 100-year-old mother and 6 siblings who are currently living in Kok Poun, Rohas, Rovieng. The cover-up of the identity has made the public almost not aware of whom Khieu Samphan's wife is at the present time. In September Rasmei Kampuchea's reporters traveled to the hometown of Khieu Samphan's wife and interviewed her mother and one of her siblings.

Kok Poun village lies 3 kilometers southeast of Rovieng district. It is a village with hundreds of houses amongst which some are old in style. There are tall fruit trees like coconuts and milk fruit trees. All of these show that the village has long been established.

The 100-year-old grandmother who was in her senility was sitting and surrounded by two other old ladies who are her daughters. Yeay Ram is the mother of So Saroeun, alias Comrade Rin, and is also Khieu Samphan's mother-in-law. "My daughter Saroeun and my son-in-law Khieu Samphan are really poor," said Yeay Ram with an unstable feeling. So Sary, 63, So Saroeun's older sister, said, "Saroeun, my sister, left the hometown since 1970 in order to work as an art performer for the Khmer Rouge army and disappeared since then." "After 1975 we saw So Saroeun visit home two times. She came alone and did not say she had husband named Khieu Samphan," she added. So Sary said that after 1979 she disappeared and it was not until the Khmer Rouge integrated with the government that she knew her sister So Saroeun was Khieu Samphan's wife and had 4 children, two sons and two daughters. So Sary said Khieu Samphan had used to visit his mother-in-law two times in very secret travel. "In the first visit, he only stayed for one night while in the second he stayed for two nights and returned back," [she said]. However, Rovieng's district authorities denied they had known that Khieu Samphan had ever visited his wife's birthplace.

Leng Keang, who used to live in Rovieng district and study in Rorveang District primary school in 1970, said So Saroeun had used to study in the same school with him, but that So Saroeun stopped and fled into the jungle to struggle with the Khmer Rouge soldiers. “Her information was lost until she was re-known as Khieu Samphan's wife,” he said.

Real biography of So Saroeun, alias Comrade Rin, has not been revealed yet. She is claimed by the villagers to be a "total revolutionary person” since she was thinking about her mother and siblings very little, whilst she was very fortunate to be married to the president of the State Presidium of the Democratic Kampuchea regime.