PHNOM PENH, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen on Tuesday slammed U.S. news outlet CNN for falsely reporting child sex trafficking in Cambodia.
Speaking at a university graduation ceremony in Phnom Penh, Hun Sen said the story seriously insulted Cambodian women and ordered the closure of Agape International Ministries (AIM) that provided the false information to the CNN in order to raise funds.
AIM is run by American missionaries.
"This is a serious insult on Cambodian wives, daughters and sisters," the prime minister said. "This insult cannot be tolerated at any cost, and this NGO must leave Cambodia."
"My country is poor, but you cannot insult my people," Hun Sen said.
The recent story featured a CNN reporter returning to Phnom Penh's Svay Pak district - once a child prostitution hotspot - to interview girls featured in a 2013 CNN documentary starring actress Mira Sorvino.
Huy Vannak, an undersecretary of state at the Cambodian Ministry of Interior, said in a press conference last Friday that Svay Pak district, which cropped up in the 1990s as a thriving sex destination with many brothels, had no longer existed for over 15 years.
