Thailand prepared for oral explanations at ICJ on Preah Vihear case

BANGKOK, January 24 (TNA) - Thailand is preparing for further oral explanations before the Hague-based Internaional Court of Justice, set from April 15-19, 2013, regarding a case related to the Preah Vihear Temple filed by neighbouring Cambodia. Defence Ministry Spokesman Colonel Thanatip Sawangsaeng told journalists on Thursday, after a meeting of the Defence Council, that Lieutenant General Tarnchiyan Srisuwan, Director of Joint Operations, has been appointed as the head of his ministry's spokespersons team tasked with elaborating on Thailand’s defence on the case concerning an unsettled area surrounding the ancient Preah Vihear Temple along the Thai-Cambodian border. Colonel Thanatip said that Deputy Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs Nuttavudh Photisaro has also been appointed as the head of the ministry's spokespersons team, and that Defence Minister Air Chief Marshal Sukumpol Suwanatat wants the two ministerial spokespersons to communicate to the public that the Royal Thai Armed Forces will do their best to protect national interest. The spokesman revealed that Thailand's further oral explanations before the ICJ will cover matters starting from 1962 when the World Court issued its past ruling on the Preah Vihear case to November 2013 when the World Court will interpret the 1962 ruling, and that Thailand's working group and team of lawyers on the Preah Vihear case will hold a meeting in Bangkok on January 25, chaired by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra herself. According to the spokesman, the Thai Cabinet will then consider the draft of the explanations in early April and he quoted Commanding General of the 2nd Army Area Command Lieutenant General Jirasak Chomprasop as reporting that the situation along the Thai-Cambodian border has remained normal and both sides do not deploy more forces; while unit commanders of both countries have even kept in close contact and trade and tourism across the border have continued as usual with no closure of any border crossing. The spokesman acknowledged that the Cambodian-Thai Joint Working Group on the Preah Vihear issue will also start its landmine clearance task in a demilitarized zone near the Preah Vihear Temple next month, as ordered by the ICJ. (TNA)