 The term "Royal" () was increasingly removed from the GRUNK's proclamations.In public, Sihanouk had remained optimistic about the nature of the GRUNK regime, stating (for the benefit of Western supporters) that Khieu Samphan "was a socialist with the same basic ideology as the Swedish Prime Minister".However, the American government continued to refuse to deal with him, and in private he had serious concerns about the Khmer Rouge's intentions, stating "the Khmer Rouge will spit me out like a cherry stone" in an interview with an Italian journalist.