Nong Samet Refugee Camp (Thai: ค่ายผู้อพยพหนองเสม็ด, also known as 007, Rithisen or Rithysen), in Nong Samet Village, Khok Sung District, Sa Kaeo Province, Thailand, was a refugee camp on the Thai-Cambodian border and served as a power base for the Khmer People's National Liberation Front (KPNLF) until its destruction by the Vietnamese military in late 1984.

Refugees began entering Thailand in large numbers after Vietnam invaded Kampuchea in December 1978 and forced the Khmer Rouge out of power.

Almost immediately all three camps were dominated by autonomous warlords who, with several hundred undisciplined and badly-equipped guerrillas, controlled commercial activities and managed food distribution to the civilian population.

He quickly realized that the size of the camp's civilian population would determine his power base, and encouraged a thriving border marketplace from which smugglers brought high-demand commodities into deprived Kampuchea.

In late January 1980, ICRC and UNICEF attempted to bypass In-Sakhan and distribute food directly to Nong Samet's population (which they now estimated at 60,000), however without the warlord's cooperation this proved nearly impossible.

Two weeks later, UNICEF conducted a nutrition survey and found widespread levels of malnutrition, stunting and hunger in the camp population.

[8] In late May 1980 Nong Samet was moved to a site adjacent to the Prasaht Sdok Kok Thom, in an area with poor drainage and landmines left over from a previous conflict.

[14] Thou Thon was a model of strong yet considerate civilian leadership at a time when warlords controlled most of the border refugee population.

[15] In 1983, at a time when Nong Samet was being terrorized nightly by violent acts of banditry, local policing was so ineffective that the bandits could brag about their exploits in the marketplace.

The entire camp was moved again in January 1983 to somewhat higher ground just east of the village of Ban Nong Samet, on land considered to be on the Cambodian side of the border.

[1]: 71  The American Refugee Committee's 1983 Annual Report numbered the population at "between 45,000 and 70,000," based on food distribution statistics, immunization records, and birth and death tallies,[19] however this did not include KPNLF troops, who were exempt from aid, and may have constituted an additional 8,000 men.

The Intergovernmental Committee for Migration conducted preliminary screening of the 1,804 NW82 Vietnamese and coordinated efforts of the 15 countries willing to offer resettlement to the refugees.

[21] A 100-bed hospital with pediatrics, maternity and surgical facilities and two outpatient clinics were operated by the American Refugee Committee, which trained 150 Khmer medics, midwives, pharmacists and nurses.

CRS also operated a mobile dental team and the Japan International Volunteer Center (JVC) provided a weekly X-ray service.

Steven H. Miles, medical director for the American Refugee Committee, wrote: Relief at the end of the Khmer Rouge has been replaced by fear of the present.

[25]Robert C. Porter Jr. of the US Embassy in Bangkok wrote: The Khmer camp at Nong Samet...always held the most exotic fascination and excitement for me.... A tall forest provided welcome shade.

[26]In April 1984 the Vietnamese began preparing the K-5 border barrier[27] and launched an attack on Ampil Camp to the northeast of Nong Samet, however the KPNLAF held firm, bringing in reinforcements and inflicting heavy casualties.

[30] Kenneth Conboy surmises that the Vietnamese were anxious to make up for their embarrassing defeat at Ampil in early 1984,[28]: 29  and that this led them to commit the entire 9th Division plus part of another: over 4,000 men, 18 artillery pieces and 27 T-54 tanks and armored personnel carriers participated in this assault.

[31] Numerous KPNLF soldiers and officers, including General Dien Del, reported that during fighting at Nong Samet on December 27 the Vietnamese used a green-colored[32] "nonlethal but powerful battlefield gas"[33] which stunned its victims[34][35] and caused nausea and frothing at the mouth.