Thailand's lawyers to confer with military leaders on Preah Vihear case

BANGKOK, January 19 (TNA) - Thailand's team of lawyers will meet Defence Minister Air Chief Marshal Sukumpol Suwanatat and military leaders in Bangkok on February 5 to explain their plans to fight at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on a case regarding an unsettled area near the ancient Preah Vihear Temple along the Thai-Cambodian border. Speaking during the weekly TV and radio programme of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra Saturday morning, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul acknowledged that Premier Yingluck will also attend the session. Surapong said that a team of Thai lawyers, to be led by Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Phongthep Thepkanchana, will then meet with foreign legal experts assigned by the Thai government to fight the case at the World Court on February 7. According to the deputy premier, the Cabinet is scheduled to consider proposals submitted by Thailand's legal team, after February's discussions, in March and a decision is expected to be made by the Thai Cabinet. The Thai deputy premier noted that a group of journalists will also be invited by the government to cover oral hearings to be given to the Hague-based ICJ, in the Netherlands, by both Thai and Cambodian lawyers from April 15-19, 2013. The deputy prime minister said the Thai government also plans to publish documents and produce a documentary film concerning the Preah Vihear Temple to be distributed to the public so that people will understand about the unsettled border issue properly. In 1962, the ICJ awarded the Preah Vihear Temple to Cambodia. The Phnom Penh government asked the World Court in April 2011 to interpret its 1962 judgment whether the 4.6 square-kilometer-area surrounding the Preah Vihear Temple belongs to Thailand or Cambodia. (TNA)