Police are investigating a US-based Web site featuring photographs and video footage of naked Cambodian women and providing tips to foreigners visiting Phnom Penh’s sex trade, Interior Ministry spokesman Lieutenant General Khieu Sopheak said Monday.
The Web site was created by Euphoric Productions LLC, a company founded in 2002 and based in the US state of Florida, according to the Web site.
The site, which also features images of women frolicking naked and sex trade information from Brazil, China, Dominican Republic, the Philippines and Thailand, was widely reported in Monday’s Khmer-language newspapers.
Khieu Sopheak said images on the site—which include a photograph of a naked Cambodian woman superimposed on a building within the grounds of the Royal Palace—violate Cambodian law.
The site “spoils the fine tradition of Cambodian women…and women around the world,” Khieu Sopheak said.
Some of the pornographic images, which are included in the section promoting sex tours to Cambodia, were shot in Phnom Penh using hidden cameras, according to the Web site.
A caption under images of four naked Cambodian women claims that they were filmed at the Mikado Club near Phsar Thmei. Representatives of Mikado Club could not be reached for comment Monday.
The Web site also states that seven women at Sophie Club on Street 118 accompanied men to their hotel room for a “naked party.” It adds that a cameraman made a pornographic video with two women after meeting with them at Walkabout Hotel on Street 51.
A manager at Sophie Club who gave her name as Thida maintained that none of her 10 waitresses are involved in prostitution.
She added that she plans to file a complaint against the creators of the site for “defaming” her late night establishment.
Mol Thhieng, the manager of Walkabout, said there is little he can do to control information about his hotel on the Internet.
“Horrible things are said about this place [on the Internet], and they’re not true,” he said. “Contrary to popular belief, the Walkabout does not employ girls [as prostitutes],” he added.
US Embassy spokesman Jeff Daigle said that if the Interior Ministry asks for help with its investigation about the Florida-based Web site, the embassy will assist in whatever way possible.
“The US government feels that it’s disappointing when women are degraded in this kind of manner,” he added.
Tourism Ministry Secretary of State Thong Khon said that he has asked ministry officials to investigate the establishments named on the Web site.
“Cambodia is not the place for naked dancing,” he said. Euphoric Productions did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment.
