Democratic Kampuchea

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Kampuchea កម្ពុជា (Khmer) (1975–1976) Democratic Kampuchea កម្ពុជាប្រជាធិបតេយ្យ (Khmer) (1976–1982)
1975–1982
Flag (1976–1982) Emblem
Anthem: បទនគររាជ Nôkôr Réach "Majestic Kingdom" (1975–1976) ដប់ប្រាំពីរមេសាមហាជោគជ័យ Dâb Prămpir Mésa Môha Choŭkchoăy "Victorious Seventeenth of April" (1976–1982)
Location of Democratic Kampuchea
Capital and largest city	Phnom Penh
Common languages	Khmer
Religion	State atheism[1]
Government	Unitary one-party socialist republic under a totalitarian dictatorship[2][3][4]
General Secretary
• 1975–1979	Pol Pot
Head of state
• 1975–1976	Norodom Sihanouk
• 1976–1979	Khieu Samphan
Prime Minister
• 1975–1976	Penn Nouth
• 1976	Khieu Samphan
• 1976–1979	Pol Pot
Legislature	People's Representative Assembly
Historical era	Cold War
• Khmer Rouge capture of Phnom Penh	17 April 1975
• Constitution established	5 January 1976
• Start of Vietnamese invasion	21 December 1978
• Vietnamese capture of Phnom Penh	7 January 1979
• CGDK established	22 June 1982
Currency	None (money was abolished)
Time zone	UTC+07:00 (ICT)
Date format	dd/mm/yyyy
Driving side	right
Preceded by Succeeded by 1975: Khmer Republic 1976: GRUNK 1979: People's Republic of Kampuchea 1982: Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea
Today part of	Cambodia

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Independence and conflict
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Kampuchea,^[a] officially Democratic Kampuchea (DK)^[b] from 1976 onward, was the Cambodian state from 1975 to 1979, under the totalitarian dictatorship of Pol Pot and the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), commonly known as the Khmer Rouge (KR). It was established following the Khmer Rouge's capture of the capital Phnom Penh, effectively ending the United States-backed Khmer Republic of Lon Nol. After Vietnam took Phnom Penh in 1979, it was disestablished in 1982 with the creation of the CGDK in its place.

From 1975 to 1979, the Khmer Rouge's one-party regime killed millions of its own people through mass executions, forced labour, and starvation, in an event which has come to be known as the Cambodian genocide. The killings ended when the Khmer Rouge were ousted from Phnom Penh by the Vietnamese army.

The Khmer Rouge subsequently established a government-in-exile in neighbouring Thailand and retained Kampuchea's seat at the United Nations (UN). In response, Vietnamese-backed communists created a rival government, the People's Republic of Kampuchea, but failed to gain international recognition. In 1982, the Khmer Rouge established the Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea (CGDK) with two non-communist guerrilla factions, broadening the exiled government of Democratic Kampuchea.^[5] The exiled government renamed itself the National Government of Cambodia in 1990, in the run-up to the UN-sponsored 1991 Paris Peace Agreements.

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