Yingluck calls urgent meet over Preah Vihear ruling

Yingluck calls urgent meet over Preah Vihear ruling

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has called an urgent meeting early next week to discuss Thailand's response to the International Court of Justice's (ICJ) upcoming ruling on Nov 11 on the Preah Vihear temple land conflict.

Nattavudh Photisaro, deputy permanent secretary for foreign affairs, said the Thai embassy in The Hague was informed unofficially by the court's registrar on Tuesday of the scheduled reading of the ruling on the Preah Vihear case.

The verdict will be read on Nov 11 at 10am at The Hague (3pm Thailand time).

An official letter was expected to have reached the Thai embassy at The Hague on Wednesday, he said. The ministry previously believed the court would issue its ruling on the conflict early next year as it was busy with many other cases.

Veerachai Plasai, Thai ambassador to The Hague and head of the Thai legal team fighting the case against Cambodia, said the court might bring up the Preah Vihear conflict for consideration sooner because the case only involved legal interpretations.

Mr Nattavudh said Prime Minister Yingluck has called a meeting for Monday to discuss details of a "mechanism" to be established to respond to the court's ruling.

This mechanism will include diplomatic, military and political measures and ways to comply with the ruling without affecting the relationship between the countries, he said.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul, now in South Korea attending the Conference on Cyberspace, has phoned his Cambodian counterpart Hor Namhong, head of the Cambodian team at the ICJ, to discuss the mechanism's formation.

Mr Nattavudh said it is likely the Thai government will arrange for a live TV broadcast of the ruling from the court, similar to the way it did during the oral hearings last April to keep the public informed about the decision.

More details about the mechanism and the broadcasting arrangements are expected to be available after Monday's meeting.

Mr Nattavudh said the Thai side has been preparing for the ruling. Discussions were held in June among security agencies and Mr Veerachai about the probable court decisions.

In August, Mr Veerachai raised the issue with Ms Yingluck and a small group of people including armed forces commanders, the National Security Council and the National Intelligence Agency.

The Foreign Ministry anticipates four possible scenarios for the ruling:

- The court has no authority to consider this case;

- The overlapping border area around the temple belongs to Cambodia;

- The land around the temple is only limited to the perimeter drawn by Thailand as envisaged by the Thai cabinet in 1962; or

- The court fixes a new borderline for the two countries.

Mr Veerachai has insisted the case brought to the ICJ by Cambodia does not involve a border issue but a request for it to interpret its 1962 ruling on the temple row between the two countries.

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