01005795 Case File No. 002/19-09-2007/ECCC/TC E313 recognition to the GRUNK.716 An invitation by the United States government to NORODOM Sihanouk to return immediately to Cambodia and take power went unheeded, and U.S. embassy personnel were evacuated from Phnom Penh on 12 April 1975 together with acting Prime Minister SAUKHAM Khoy.717 By 17 April 1975, most of the remaining senior leaders of the Khmer Republic had fled the country and the CPK/FUNK takeover was complete.718 230. In reality, the GRUNK administration that took power in Cambodia was a façade, and it was the CPK that exercised actual control.719 NORODOM Sihanouk had foreseen this outcome two years earlier, telling an audience in China: After the war is over, Prince Sihanouk will only be a symbol of national unity…In reality power will be in the hands of the Khmer Rouge.720 231. One commentator in 1975 observed that the GRUNK cabinet was dominated by the Khmer Rouge, with “only two ‘Sihanoukists’” amongst its members.721 NORODOM Sihanouk himself, though ostensibly the head of state, did not arrive in Phnom Penh until September 1975, having spent the previous months in Beijing and Pyongyang.722 716 Book by F. PONCHAUD: Cambodia Year Zero, E243.1, p. 12, ERN (En) 00862033; Untitled article: Sweden officially recognised… (Washington Post), E3/3296, 16 April 1975. 717 Sihanouk Silent as Insurgents Wait Outside Phnom Penh (The Guardian), E3/4422, 14 April 1975, ERN (En) S 00002624; Report by L. TRIVIÈRE: China and Cambodia, E3/482, November 1975, p. 27, ERN (En) 00524011; White Flags Over Phnom Penh (Newsweek), E3/3721, 28 April 1975, ERN (En) S 00002598; The Unknown Dimensions of the Cambodian Tragedy (Washington Post), E3/4479, 19 February 1978; Book by N. CHANDA: Brother Enemy: The War After The War, E3/2376, p. 40, ERN (En) 00192225. 718 White Flags Over Phnom Penh (Newsweek), E3/3721, 28 April 1975, ERN (En) S 00002600; Book by N. CHANDA: Brother Enemy: The War After The War, E3/2376, p. 38, ERN (En) 00192223. 719 T. 19 July 2012 (David CHANDLER), pp. 104-105; T. 9 May 2013 (Philip SHORT), pp. 69-70; Book by G. CHON and THET Sambath: Behind the Killing Fields: A Khmer Rouge Leader and One of His Victims, E3/4202, p. 13, ERN (En) 00757482. See also, Standing Committee Minutes, E3/182, 9 October 1975 (assigning specific areas of policy responsibility to senior CPK members). See also, Report by L. TRIVIÈRE: China and Cambodia, E3/482, November 1975, p. 9, ERN (En) 00523993 (reporting earlier statements by NORODOM Sihanouk to the effect that “the Khmer Rouge hold the majority within the GRUNK…It is now a communist-oriented government…I am giving up everything to the Khmer Rouge”). 720 Report by L. TRIVIÈRE: China and Cambodia, E3/482, November 1975, p. 16, ERN (En) 00524000. 721 Report by L. TRIVIÈRE: China and Cambodia, E3/482, November 1975, p. 25, ERN (En) 00524009. 722 Reception for Sihanouk: Speeches by Khieu Samphan and Sihanouk (in SWB Collection), E3/711, 11 September 1975, ERN (En) S 00003732-S 00003732; Sihanouk Pledges ‘Democratic’ Rule (New Case 002/01, Judgement, 7 August 2014 - Public 128