Peace and Friendship - Rare Anti Khmer Rouge Medal - Cambodia / Vietnam War - D for Sale

Peace and Friendship - Rare Anti Khmer Rouge Medal - Cambodia / Vietnam War - D For Sale

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Peace and Friendship - Rare Anti Khmer Rouge Medal - Cambodia / Vietnam War - D:
$252.00

Rare Medal - Cambodia - Vietnam Friendship medal

Anti Khmer Rouge Combat Medal - Rare Original Medal

Extremely Rare - People's Republic of Kampuchea (PRK)

Anti Khmer Rouge - Medal

This medal is an original national award from the People’s Republic of Kampuchea (PRK), the government installed after the Vietnamese intervention that ended the Khmer Rouge regime in January 1979. Known in English as the Peace and Friendship Medal, it recognised Cambodians and foreign personnel who contributed to the rebuilding of civil society, the promotion of peace, and friendly cooperation with the new administration during the long, difficult reconstruction period that followed the fall of Democratic Kampuchea.

Its issuance reflects the political environment of the 1980s, when Cambodia was ruled by a government widely regarded as a Vietnamese-backed authority created to stabilise the country after nearly four years of catastrophic genocide and state collapse.

The background to this award lies in one of the darkest chapters of modern history. Between April 1975 and January 1979, the Khmer Rouge under Pol Pot carried out a radical agrarian-socialist program that destroyed urban life, outlawed markets and religion, abolished money, and forced the evacuation of all cities.

An estimated 1.7 to 2 million people, roughly a quarter of the population, died from execution, starvation, forced labor, untreated disease, and purges within the regime itself.

Vietnamese border villages were repeatedly attacked by Khmer Rouge units, and entire communities were massacred along the frontier. By late 1978, Pol Pot’s forces had launched several deep cross-border incursions into Vietnam, killing thousands of civilians.

These attacks, combined with the humanitarian catastrophe inside Cambodia, prompted the Vietnamese government to launch a full-scale intervention in December 1978.

Within weeks, the Khmer Rouge fled Phnom Penh, and Vietnam installed a new administration composed largely of Cambodian communists who had survived Khmer Rouge purges by taking refuge in Vietnam. This new regime became the People’s Republic of Kampuchea, and from its inception was heavily dependent on Vietnamese military, political, and economic support.

For this reason, the PRK was routinely described internationally as a Vietnamese “puppet government,” although it gradually grew into a more stable, Cambodian-led state over the next decade.

The obverse of the medal reflects the ideological messaging of the PRK era. The globe symbol represents international solidarity at a time when the PRK was recognised primarily by Vietnam, the Soviet Union, and Eastern Bloc states, while the Khmer Rouge retained Cambodia’s United Nations seat with Chinese backing.

The dove signifies peace and relief after years of extraordinary violence. The handshake is a direct reference to cooperation and mutual assistance, echoing PRK slogans about solidarity between Cambodians and the Vietnamese “volunteer army” that remained in the country until 1989.

Angkor Wat crowns the design, serving as the national emblem of cultural continuity and rebirth after devastation. The red enamel scrollwork carries the medal’s Khmer inscription, and the starburst background displays Soviet-influenced design elements found in many PRK civil and military decorations.

During the PRK period (1979–1989) and its successor state, the State of Cambodia (1989–1993), this medal was presented to teachers, health workers, agricultural organisers, party cadres, militia members, and civil servants who were considered to have helped rebuild the shattered country.

It was also awarded to foreign allies, particularly Vietnamese military advisers, Soviet specialists, and members of various international missions who assisted with infrastructure, education, medicine, and security.

Throughout the 1980s, the PRK faced constant attacks from remnants of the Khmer Rouge, as well as resistance groups aligned with FUNCINPEC and the KPNLF, all of whom operated from bases along the Thai border with substantial foreign support.

As a result, the medal’s theme of peace, cooperation, and reconstruction carried both propagandistic and symbolic weight in an environment where the new state was fighting for legitimacy, survival, and international recognition.

The award’s iconography captures the central narrative promoted by the PRK: peace after genocide, friendship with Vietnam, and collective reconstruction of the nation. It stands as a historically significant artefact from Cambodia’s post-1979 recovery period, reflecting both the political realities of Vietnamese-backed governance and the broader struggle to restore stability, society, and national identity after one of the worst atrocities of the twentieth century.

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