This image uploaded to Facebook on July 23 shows journalist Geoffrey Cain, center, dining in a Korean restaurant in Phnom Penh with Samathida Kem, right, daughter of Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) leader Kem Sokha. The third man is an Indian national working in Cambodia as a lawyer. This picture fueled conspiracy theories that the CNRP is collaborating with the CIA.



By Jon Dunbar



Geoffrey Cain got the surprise of his life when the country of Cambodia ousted him as an American spy.

"I'm not a spy," Cain told The Korea Times. "I'm a journalist. Dictators often fail to draw a line between the two. The allegations are a serious matter for everyone being accused. I'm past joking about it."

Around Aug. 24, an article appeared on Fresh News Asia, which Cain says is "a minor state-aligned tabloid," claiming Cain, under the cover of being an independent journalist, was the "mastermind" in the ouster of former President Park Geun-hye, claiming he "co-founded" a Korean opposition party that overthrew her and wrote articles inciting the grassroots protest movement that unseated her.

"The spy has been coerced by the South Korean opposition party to overthrow Park Geun-hye," the article said.

It claimed due to his success, the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) hired him to overthrow Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.

The news has met with incredulity in Korea, as the U.S., under both ex-President Barack Obama and President Donald Trump, has remained neutral in Korea's political upheaval earlier this year. As well, the impeachment of Park and election of President Moon Jae-in could hardly be considered in America's best interest, as Moon has been slow to cooperate on some mutual defense issues, such as the installation of a U.S. anti-missile shield.

"Anyone who thinks I'm an instigator of mass uprisings because of a photo of me getting Korean barbecue is delusional," Cain said. He denied any involvement with the impeachment protests. Instead, he was finishing up his upcoming book about Samsung.

The article also shared a picture of him dining in a Korean restaurant in Phnom Penh with CNRP President Kem Sokha's daughter Samathida Kem. Cain says they became friends in 2007 when they were both university students in America.

"Nothing says ‘secret agent' more than Korean BBQ," she posted on Facebook. "Did you know that each time secret agents meet, they always ask the waitress to take their picture and they post it on Facebook? The clues are all there!"

The story circulated through social media and was picked up by a mainstream newspaper and TV news broadcast. On Aug. 28, the Rasmei Kampuchea Daily, Cambodia's biggest daily newspaper, reported the Ministry of Interior was investigating alleged revolutionary forces working with the CNRP, citing the Fresh News report and alleging ties between Kem's daughter and a CIA agent, likely referring to Cain.

"Any suggestion that the United States is supporting or has supported revolution is categorically false and is intended to draw attention away from the recent deterioration in Cambodia's political climate," U.S. Embassy in Cambodia deputy spokesman David Josar was quoted telling the Phnom Penh Post.

Cambodia today is a constitutional monarchy. Prime Minister Hun Sen has been in power since 1998, and his government is often accused of ignoring human rights and suppressing political dissent.

"Cambodia has a dark history of ferreting out foreign spies," Cain said, citing the execution of random Westerners under the Khmer Rouge (1975-79). Earlier this year, Cambodia imprisoned Australian filmmaker James Ricketson on charges of espionage, for flying a drone over a political rally.

Cain characterized these actions as "paranoid."

"As an election approaches next summer, they are looking to prove there is an American conspiracy to help the opposition overthrow the ruling party and foment chaos. They used to point to the Arab Spring. Now they're pointing to the impeachment of President Park, and pinning the blame on me."

He suspects the accusation against him is a pretense to suppress political opposition leaders in Cambodia.

Cain worked as a foreign correspondent in Cambodia in 2008 and 2009, writing for The Economist and the Far Eastern Economic Review. He moved to Korea in 2012, writing for Time magazine, then became GlobalPosts's senior correspondent.

Cain, who is currently in Thailand, said he is unlikely to visit Cambodia for a while due to the risk of arrest.

"I'm not worried about Korea, though," he added. "Would anyone there believe that I, this lone foreign correspondent, would have been behind the impeachment of Park?"

The Cambodian Embassy did not answer a request for interview.