confidential report late in 1967 ")-1-1 crz, 7a detailing the execution of the 4th Figure Doubted , three men. Doubts have also been raised 'NOY- 55 Mr. Tith said in a recent about the existence of Son Ngoc interview that the report - Minh, a shadowy figure whose prepared by Oum Mannorine, picture is reported to be re- Prince Sihanouk's brother-in- placing Prince Sihanouk's in 3 SIHANOUK AIDES law and then chief of the secur- the Communist-controlled areas ity police—stated that Khieu of northeast Cambodia. Samphan was burned to death Mr. Tith said that he had SAID TO BE MYTHS with acid, while Hou Youn and .never heard of Son Ngoc Minh Hu Nim were crushed by a nor known of anyone who had Pnompefih Believes Prince bulldozer. met him. He said that Son Peking Charge Reported Ngoc Minh was a Vietnamese Executed Them in '67 The U.N. delegate also said and not a Cambodian name. that he heard a broadcast by In 1953-54, when the Viet- Peking radio at the time ac- minh under Ho Chi Minh in- Increasing doubts are being vaded eastern Cambodia dic- cusing Prince Sihanouk of ex- ing raised whether the three Cain- ecuting the three men. the war against the Frain bodian Communist leaders. who In Mr. Tith's view, the and set up a so-called libera- Prince Norodom Sihanouk says tion government, they also re- North Vietnamese have pressed ferred to a Son Ngoc Minh. are directing his forces in Cam- Prince Sihanouk into using the At that time the Vietminh bodia are alive, or whether names of the three men be- said that he was a brother of they were executed.: by Prince cause there are no other well- Son Ngoc Thant, a Cambodian known Cambodian Communists nationalist hero in the World Sihanouk in 1967. • who can serve as a front. The dispute has assumed War II and an opponent of American intelligence analysts I Prince Sihanouk. But Son Ngoc , great importance for Cambod- have long had serious reserva-I Thant denied the report. ians because Prince Sihanouk tions about the existence of they has repeatedly asserted that three ministers. They say -that these three' men, and not Viet- they had reports of the execu- namese Communists are direct- tions of the three in 1967 and , that no one is known to have -ing the fight against the Gov- seen them since. ernment of Premier Lon Nob, "Unless we get some inde- who ousted Prince Sihanouk as pendent confirmation that they :Head of State last March. are still alive, it is pretty hard According to diplomatic and to believe that they are still :intelligence sources the three around," an American special- ist in Cambodian affairs said. amen, Hou Youn, Hu Mim and A French leftist, Charles 'Khieu Samphan, have not been Mayer, who was once a 'close seen since they were arrested adviser to Prince Sihanouk and by Prince Sihanouk's police in friend of the three men, things 1967 for participating in an that Hou Youn and Khieu Sam- uprising by the Khmer Rouge, phan are probably dead, though the Cambodian Communist he is less sure about Hu Nim. `organization . Some Doubt Reports The Lon Nol Government ap- In •a recent interview in Paris pears so certain that the three after his return from Pnom- are dead that earlier this week penh, he said that he had been it did not bother to try them told of Khieu Samphan's arrest in absentia for treason, as it in 1967 by the man's brother. did the other members of Mr. Mayer thought it unlikely Prince Sihanouk's recently es- that the men would be allowed tablished government in exile. to live once arrested. 3 Named as Ministers Some sources familiar with On May 3 when he estab- Cambodia, however, are skepti- lished his government in Pe- cal of the reports 'of that th king, Prince Sihanouk listed three were executed. They note Bou Youn as interior minister, that the Cambodian Govern- Hu Nim as information minis- itent has not produced any of- ter, and Khieu Samphan as de- ficial record of the executions. fense minister. The next week Before their disappearance in he announced that the three 1967 the three were known as men were in Cambodia, direct- leftist deputies in the National ing his "patriotic forces." Assembly who favored strong But the Pnomperth Govern- policies •of economic national- ment, believing that the three ization and friendship with men are dead, feels that Prince forth Vietnam and Communist Sihanouk and the North Viet-, China. Hou Youn was born in iiamese are simply using their' 1930, Hu Nim in 1932, and names to cover up North Viet- Khieu Samphan in 1931. namese aggression. The recent doubts about the' three men have come from a variety of sources. The Cambodian delegate at the United Nations, Kim Tith, a former Premier and Defense Minister, says that he read a