Thai DPM, army chief inspect situation in far South

BANGKOK, May 22 (TNA) - Deputy Prime Minister Yuthasak Sasiprapa, who oversees national security, and Army Chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha visited Thailand's violence-plagued southern border region Tuesday to inspect the situation. Both General Yuthasak and General Prayuth had a meeting with local security authorities at the southern forward command of the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC), located at the Sirindhorn Camp, in Yarang District of Pattani province Tuesday morning, at which heads of local military, police and administrative units, the Yala governor, as well as chiefs of the 4th Army Area Command, the southern border province police and the Southern Border Provinces Administration Center (SBPAC) were also present. After the meeting, at which reports on the updated situation, operational results, important criminal cases and development projects in the country's five southern border provinces of Yala, Narathiwat, Pattani, Satun and Songkhla from concerned authorities were also raised, the Thai deputy premier and the army chief were, this afternoon, visiting Baan Bueng Nam Sai School in Yala's Raman district and inspecting the construction of a bridge across the reservoir of the Bang Lang Dam, as part of the Highway 410. Before the trip, the Thai army chief told reporters that a budget increase for the Royal Thai Armed Forces in the next fiscal year is for making up the present 2012 fiscal year's insufficient finances for over 200,000 soldiers. (TNA)