View source for Ta Mok

{{Short description|Cambodian military officer (1924–2006)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}
{{Infobox criminal
| name              = Ta Mok
| native_name       = តាម៉ុក
| image             = Ta Mok 1999.jpg
| caption           = Ta Mok in 1999
| birth_name        = Chhit Choeun
| birth_date        = 1925<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.eccc.gov.kh/en/directory/khmer-rouge-profile/ta-mok|title= Ta Mok|website=[[Khmer Rouge Tribunal|The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia]]|access-date=30 August 2025}}</ref>
| birth_place       = [[Takéo Province|Takéo]], [[French Protectorate of Cambodia|Cambodia]], [[French Indochina]]
| death_date        = {{death date and age|2006|7|21|1925|df=y}}
| death_place       = [[Phnom Penh]], Cambodia
| known_for         = Military leader of the [[Khmer Rouge]]
| yearsactive       = 1970&ndash;1999
| party             = [[Communist Party of Kampuchea]]<br />[[Party of Democratic Kampuchea]]
| religion          = 
| apprehended       = 6 March 1999
}}
{{Contains special characters|Khmer}} 
'''Ta Mok''' ({{langx|km|តាម៉ុក}}; born '''Chhit Choeun''', {{lang|km|ឈិត ជឿន}}; 1925 – 21 July 2006), also known as '''Nguon Kang''',<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=noWXAwAAQBAJ&q=Nguon+Kang&pg=PA102|title=Cambodia, 1975-1978: Rendezvous with Death|author=Karl D. Jackson|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=0-691-07807-6|year=1989|page=100}}</ref> was a [[Cambodians|Cambodian]] military chief<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rfa.org/english/news/politics/cambodia_tamok-20060721.html|title=Khmer Rouge Leader Ta Mok Dies Ahead of Trial|work=[[Radio Free Asia]]|date=21 July 2006|accessdate=30 April 2014}}</ref> who was a senior figure in the [[Cambodian genocide|genocidal]] [[Khmer Rouge]] and the leader of the [[National Army of Democratic Kampuchea|national army of Democratic Kampuchea]].<ref name="Profile:Ta Mok">{{cite web|title=Profile:Ta Mok|url=http://www.trial-ch.org/en/ressources/trial-watch/trial-watch/profils/profile/264/action/show/controller/Profile.html|publisher=Trial|accessdate=3 December 2013|url-status=dead|archive-date=7 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131207013309/http://www.trial-ch.org/en/ressources/trial-watch/trial-watch/profils/profile/264/action/show/controller/Profile.html}}</ref> He was also known as '''Brother Number Five''' or '''the Butcher'''.<ref name="dead">{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5201770.stm|publisher=[[BBC News]]|title=Khmer Rouge 'butcher' Ta Mok dies|date=21 July 2006|url-status=live|archive-date=22 December 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091222181811/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5201770.stm}}</ref> He was captured along the [[Cambodia–Thailand border]] in March 1999 by Cambodian government forces while on the run with a small band of followers;<ref>{{cite web | title=Ta Mok, Khmer Rouge Head Facing Genocide Trial, Dies |website=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/21/world/asia/21tamok.html | date=21 July 2006}}</ref> he was held in government custody until his death in 2006 while awaiting his [[war crime]]s trial.

==Early life==
[[Image:Tamochouse 2008.jpg|thumb|200px|left|Ta Mok's mansion in [[Takéo]]]]
The eldest of seven children, he is believed to have been born into a prosperous<ref name="guardianobit">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2006/jul/22/guardianobituaries.johnaglionby|title=Obituary Ta Mok|work=The Guardian|date=22 July 2006|location=London|first=John|last=Aglionby|accessdate=24 May 2010|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121113020123/http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2006/jul/22/guardianobituaries.johnaglionby|archive-date=13 November 2012}}</ref> country family from Pra Keap village, Trapeang Thom commune, [[Tram Kak district]], [[Takeo Province]], and was of [[Chinese Cambodian|Chinese-Cambodian]] descent.<ref>[http://www.khmerinstitute.org/articles/art03b.html Jurisdictional and Definitional Issues Jurisdictional and Definitional Issues] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181106192220/http://www.khmerinstitute.org/articles/art03b.html |date=6 November 2018 }}, Bora Touch, Khmer Institute</ref> He became a Buddhist monk in the 1930s but left the order at the age of 16.<ref name="latimesobit">{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-jul-21-me-tamok21-story.html|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|title=Ta Mok, 80; Key Figure in Cambodian Genocide|date=21 July 2006|first=David|last=Lamb|access-date=24 May 2010|url-status=live|archive-date=12 August 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100812155822/http://articles.latimes.com/2006/jul/21/local/me-tamok21}}</ref>

Ta Mok took part in the resistance against [[France|French]] [[Colonial Cambodia|colonial rule]] and then the anti-[[Empire of Japan|Japanese]] resistance during the 1940s. He was training to become a [[Bhikkhu]] in Pali, Cambodia when he joined the anti-French [[Khmer Issarak]] in 1952.<ref name="kh-buddhism">{{cite book|last=Harris|first=Ian|title=Cambodian Buddhism: History and Practice |year= 2005|publisher=[[University of Hawaii Press]]|location=Honolulu|isbn=0-8248-2765-1|page=161}}</ref> He soon left [[Phnom Penh]] and joined the [[Khmer Rouge]]/Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK).

==In Khmer Rouge==
By the late 1960s, Ta Mok was a general and the Khmer Rouge's chief-of-staff. He was also a member of the Standing Committee of the Khmer Rouge's Central Committee ("Party Centre") during its period in power. He became very powerful within the party, especially in the south-west zone. He was named by [[Pol Pot]] as leader of the national army of [[Democratic Kampuchea]].<ref name="Profile:Ta Mok"/> He lost the lower part of one leg in fighting around 1970 during the [[Cambodian Civil War]].

Ta Mok orchestrated several massacres within the territories that he captured from 1973, beginning before the final, complete seizure of power by the [[Khmer Rouge]] on 17 April 1975. For example, his and [[Ke Pauk]]'s soldiers had 20,000 civilians murdered or forced into [[Forced labour|slave labour]] after capturing [[Oudong]] in March 1974.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://m.phnompenhpost.com/national/biography-mass-murderer | title=Biography of a mass murderer }}</ref>

He was also responsible for directing the massive purges that characterised the short-lived [[Democratic Kampuchea]] (1975&ndash;1979), including the [[Cambodian genocide|mass killing]] of 30,000 people in the [[Angkor Chey]] district, earning him the nickname ''Butcher''.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5128664.stm | title=Obituary: Ta Mok | date=21 July 2006 }}</ref>

==After the fall of the Khmer Rouge==
[[Image:Choeungek2.JPG|thumb|Skulls of Khmer Rouge victims]]
After the [[Cambodian-Vietnamese War|regime was overthrown by the Vietnamese]] in 1979, Ta Mok remained a powerful figure, controlling the northern area of the Khmer Rouge's remaining territory from his base at [[Anlong Veng]] in the [[Dângrêk Mountains]]. It is estimated that some 3,000 to 5,000 combatants remained loyal to Pol Pot and were directed by Ta Mok.

In 1997, after a split in the party, Ta Mok seized control of one faction and named himself supreme commander. [[Pol Pot]] then fled the Khmer Rouge's northern stronghold, but was later arrested and sentenced to lifelong [[house arrest]]. In April 1998, after a new government attack, Ta Mok fled into the forest and took Pol Pot with him. A few days later, on 15 April 1998, Pol Pot died in custody.

On 25 July 1997, Ta Mok and Pol Pot were interviewed separately by [[Nate Thayer]]. Unrepentant, Mok chuckled as he debated whether the KR had killed millions of people or just "hundreds of thousands," claiming that he had only killed Vietnamese.

In 1998, after several key defections, Ta Mok was forced to flee to Anlong Veng. On 6 March 1999, the general was captured by the Cambodian army near the Thai border and brought to capital Phnom Penh, where he joined former comrade [[Khang Khek Ieu]] ("Comrade Duch") at the Military Prosecution Department Detention Facility. Ta Mok was the last leading member of the Khmer Rouge to remain at large in Cambodia; other senior figures had died or already made immunity deals with the government of [[Hun Sen]], including [[Nuon Chea]], [[Khieu Samphan]] and [[Ieng Sary]].

In prison his detention period was repeatedly extended without his being brought to trial. Under Cambodian law his trial should have begun within six months of his arrest. First charged with membership of an outlawed group and tax evasion, in February 2002 he was charged with [[Crime against humanity|crimes against humanity]]. In poor health with respiratory problems, Ta Mok's only releases from solitary confinement were for hospital visits. On 21 July 2006, due to heart complications caused by the stress of the upcoming trial, he died in a military hospital after falling into a coma.<ref name="dying">{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5182534.stm|publisher=BBC News|title=Top Khmer Rouge leader 'in coma'|date=15 July 2006|access-date=15 July 2006|url-status=live|archive-date=4 November 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104193020/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5182534.stm}}</ref><ref name="dead" />

Ta Mok's house in [[Anlong Veng District|Anlong Ven]] is a tourist site.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Home of notorious Khmer Rouge commander attracts few tourists |url=https://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/ta-mok-house-anlong-veng-tourism-10082024123807.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241009201147/https://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/ta-mok-house-anlong-veng-tourism-10082024123807.html |archive-date=9 October 2024 |access-date=2025-01-07 |work=Radio Free Asia |language=en |url-status=live }}</ref> A 2023 study found that villages that were governed by Ta Mok during the Khmer Rouge regime have persistently worse economic development outcomes than villages that were governed by more moderate elements of the Khmer Rouge.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Grasse |first=Donald |date=2023 |title=State Terror and Long-Run Development: The Persistence of the Khmer Rouge |journal=American Political Science Review |volume=118 |pages=195–212 |language=en |doi=10.1017/S0003055423000382 |s2cid=258479087 |issn=0003-0554|doi-access=free }}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book|last=Bizot|first=François|author-link=François Bizot|others=Euan Cameron, trans|title=The Gate|url=https://archive.org/details/gatebizo00bizo|url-access=registration|year=2003|publisher=Alfred A. Knopf|location=New York|isbn=9780375412936 }}
*{{cite book|last=Becker|first=Elizabeth|author-link=Elizabeth Becker (journalist)|title=When the War was Over: Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge|orig-year=1986|year=1998|publisher=Public Affairs|location=New York}}
==Notes==

==External links==
*{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/21/world/asia/21tamok.html|title=Ta Mok, Khmer Rouge Head Facing Genocide Trial, Dies|accessdate=26 July 2006|agency=[[Associated Press]]|date=21 July 2006|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090424224736/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/21/world/asia/21tamok.html|archive-date=24 April 2009|url-status=live}}
*{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5128664.stm|title=Obituary: Ta Mok|access-date=26 July 2006|publisher=BBC News|date=21 July 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070205133916/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5128664.stm|archive-date=5 February 2007|url-status=live}}
*{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-jul-21-me-tamok21-story.html|title=Ta Mok, 80; Key Figure in Cambodian Genocide|access-date=26 July 2006|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|last=Lamb|first=David|date=21 July 2006|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090221024945/http://articles.latimes.com/2006/jul/21/local/me-tamok21|archive-date=21 February 2009}}

{{Khmer Rouge}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ta, Mok}}
[[Category:1925 births]]
[[Category:2006 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Takéo province]]
[[Category:Cambodian politicians of Chinese descent]]
[[Category:Cambodian communists]]
[[Category:Cambodian criminals]]
[[Category:Warlords]]
[[Category:Khmer Rouge party members]]
[[Category:Cambodian politicians with disabilities]]
[[Category:People indicted by the Khmer Rouge Tribunal]]
[[Category:Cambodian genocide perpetrators]]
[[Category:Prisoners and detainees of Cambodia]]
[[Category:Communist Party of Kampuchea politicians]]
[[Category:Cambodian people who died in prison custody]]
[[Category:Prisoners who died in Cambodian detention]]
[[Category:Former Buddhists]]
[[Category:Cambodian atheists]]