Phnom Penh (FN), February 4 - The American Ambassador to Cambodia, William A. Heidt, claims that the United States has lent next to $500 million dollars to Cambodia and never planned to free the loan.

During a meeting between the Ambassador and Cambodian journalists at the U.S embassy on Feb. 3, the Ambassador stated that, "By 1990s, Cambodia owed just over $200 million to the U.S. Now, the loan (including interest) has increased to over $500 million."

On January 20, 2017, Prime Minister Hun Sen requested that the U.S government free the loan during Lon Nol's regime that took place between 1970 to 1975 because the loan is dirty money.

The premier added that the U.S was the main country that assisted Lon Nol's military coup to unseat Cambodia's former King, Norodom Sihanouk. This led to numerous destructive civil wars in Cambodia, so the U.S should free the loan as compensation.

According to the statistical data approved by Bill Clinton in 2000, the U.S dropped over 2.8 tons of explosives including toxic ones in Cambodia between 1965 to 1973. The U.S claimed to stop Vietnamese invasion into Cambodia, but the mission killed over half a million Cambodians and destroyed thousands of houses.
=FRESH NEWS