PHNOM PENH: Prime Minister Hun Sen has said that there were two people who helped him to decide to close VOD faster: an opposition party member named Min Pov and a reporter named Kann Vicheka. He said that due to the comments made by these two individuals on Facebook, the Prime Minister decided to reduce the time given to VOD to apologize, and then ordered the Ministry of Information to shut down VOD altogether.

Speaking at the graduation ceremony for students of the University of Human Resources on Monday morning, 20 February 2023, at the OCIC Conference Hall in Phnom Penh, the Prime Minister said that he had initially given VOD 72 hours to respond, but due to a comment made by Min Pov on his Facebook post saying that VOD should be given more time to explain, the Prime Minister decided to reduced the time to 24 hours.

The Prime Minister further added that when he made a post saying he could not accept VOD's letter given that they used the word 'regret' instead of issuing a proper apology, a reporter named Kann Vicheka commented defending VOD's letter saying that the word 'regret' and 'sorry' have the same meaning. After reading this comment, Prime Minister Hun Sen decided to close down VOD immediately.

"Ms. Vicheka and Mr. Sey Min Pov also helped to kill the radio show (VOD media outlet)," said the Prime Minister.

He said that at first, he just wanted to hear a "word of apology," but VOD did not properly follow-through so he shut the media outlet down.