Yim Pim, a former Khmer Rouge rebel commander who came to command a government unit based at Preah Vihear temple after he defected in 1998, died in a Bangkok hospital on Saturday, officials in his home district said.
Major General Yim Pim, who was 64, commanded rebel division 980 before his March 1998 defection helped the government storm Anlong Veng district, the Khmer Rouge’s final stronghold, and eventually arrest the rebels’ last defiant leader, Ta Mok.
He was appointed commander of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces Division 23, based in Anlong Veng, before being appointed the commander of Intervention Brigade 8 at the Preah Vihear temple.
Toch Ra, the chief of border liaison at the Choam-Sa Ngam International Checkpoint near Anlong Veng who once served under Yim Pim among the rebels, said that the commander’s body was returned at about 10:30 p.m. on Saturday.
“The body of Major General Yim Pim arrived at the Choam international border crossing last night and there were over 100 soldiers to accompany his coffin,” Mr. Ra said.
“Monks, his former Khmer Rouge soldiers and colleagues led a Buddhist procession with over 50 cars away from the border checkpoint.”
Anlong Veng deputy district police chief So Nov said that Yim Pim had left for treatment in Bangkok 10 days ago but did not know what illness he was suffering from.
Yim Pim was among the thousands of Khmer Rouge rebels who in March 1998 followed Ke Pauk, the Khmer Rouge armed forces deputy chief of general staff, to abandon Ta Mok and defect to the Phnom Penh government.
He would one year later play a key role in securing the arrest of Ta Mok, who had led the rebels since Pol Pot died in July 1997, after inviting him to return from hiding near Preah Vihear Temple to a meeting in government-held Anlong Veng.
