Agence France-Presse
BANGKOK, Thailand - Thailand will respect the ruling of the United Nations' highest court on whether it must withdraw troops from a border area at the center of a deadly row with Cambodia, an official said Tuesday.
"Of course we will comply with the decision of the court," said Ittiporn Boonpracong, director general of the Foreign Ministry's Department of Treaties and Legal Affairs.
"We are not compelled to comply but we will comply," he told reporters, arguing that the case is not within the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Cambodia last month launched a legal bid at the court, based in The Hague, seeking to force Thailand to pull troops from a strip of disputed land near the ancient Preah Vihear temple.
Ittiporn said he expected a decision in three or four weeks on the request, which followed two episodes of fierce border fighting between the two countries earlier this year that left 28 people dead.
"Look at 1962, even though we disagreed with a number of legal issues, as a member of the UN we complied fully," Ittiporn added.
The court ruled in 1962 that the 900-year-old temple itself belonged to Cambodia but both Phnom Penh and Bangkok claim ownership of a 4.6-square-kilometer (1.8-square-mile) patch of nearby land.
Cambodia in April asked the ICJ to clarify that ruling and in the meantime asked for the urgent troop withdrawal.
7 comments:
This time we'll take care of our unfinished business (the return of the temple 'PV').
There'll be an overwhelming force from our military might to ensure the job is done -- no mistakes this time -- correctly.
Your mouthful prime minister is very an ignorant fool; yet very childish and stupid.
10:03
Suk my dik
10:03PM! don't let the child kick your bumpyhead!
WHY SIAM WANTED SOMETHING THAT THEY'RE NOT CREATED BY THEM SELF AND WANNA TAKE SOMETHING FROM OTHER NOT BELONG TO THEM ..?
IS IT SOME SCREWS LOOSING IN THEIR CRACKSKULL ?
LONG LIVE KHMER PEOPLE..
LONG LIVE HUN HEN...
i think once the court clarifies and interprets its ruling, it will help to facilitate the joint border demarcation process they both countries had set up to work on officially demarcating their borderlines so to prevent future clashes. both countries need the icj to clarify and interpret the ruling so they can understand and stop making illegal claim about borders again. as for preah vihear temple, it was clear to both that it belongs to cambodia, period, end of story! i think if they focus on demarcating the existing borderline, then due to years of neglect and civil strife in cambodia, they have to seek help from the icj to re-demarcate the borderlines, that's all! this way, they can avoid bloody clashes on both sides, i think! unless they both choose to go to war, which i doubt both sides want, then all international mechanism along with talks with third party as witness, etc must all be used to facilitate the process once and for all. the landmines must be cleared from cambodia if we were to develop our country into a family of asean nations, etc, ok! work together by using law, talks, etc... it will take time, but set up the time frame for it, though, so it won't go on forever. must have a deadline for the time, ok! it will take a skillful negotiator on both sides to work things out, i believe! there's no need to fight or shed blood in their 21st century world, especially in their region of southeast asia, really!
siem say this, khmer say that, so the icj will help clarify the truth in the court of law, really!
apparently the fighting happened due to this violation of siem, you know!
siem is stupid to ignore the call to icj to clarify the ruling. after all, them were the one that complain about cambodia stealing their lands, well, let the court clarify and interpret the ruling, ok! don't block the court, process, ok, siem thugs!
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