Part 8/9:
The internal rift between Pol Pot’s government and Vietnam reached a boiling point, leading to a Vietnamese invasion in late 1978. The poorly equipped Cambodian forces crumbled under the pressure. On January 7, 1979, Vietnamese troops entered Phnom Penh, effectively ending the Khmer Rouge regime but leaving behind an unfathomable legacy of loss and trauma.
Though the government fell, the true extent of Cambodia's suffering only became more visible as mass graves were uncovered, revealing the genocide's ugly truth. Although Pol Pot and his cohort retreated into the jungles, sporadic conflicts continued until 1998, when he died under house arrest, and the remaining factions of the Khmer Rouge eventually surrendered.