PHNOM PENH: Following the release of the new 30,000 Riel banknote in Cambodia, Prime Minister Hun Sen explains one of the images featured – him standing beside the late King Norodom Sihanouk in a car parade. The Prime Minister recalls what happened during that day. It was 14 November 1991.

He says, “When he returned home on 14 November 1991, I was the head of government of the State of Cambodia while the late king was the president of the Supreme National Council. King father flew from China’s Beijing to Cambodia, and 30 minutes before the plane landing, I went to the plane’s bathroom to put on a bulletproof vest. After leaving the plane, I stand ready next to king father as a bodyguard. If anything happens, I will risk my life to protect him from the incidents”.

According to the Prime Minister, King Sihanouk did not know that he was wearing a bulletproof vest to protect him until two years later. He and the late king were in the same convoy while his wife, Bun Rany Hun Sen was with the Queen Mother in another car.

The National Bank of Cambodia has started to circulate the new 30,000 Riel banknote on Monday to mark the 30th anniversary of the Paris Peace Agreement and the return of the late King Norodom Sihanouk.