Cambodian News

A Cambodian court has sentenced a Taiwanese man to 22 years in jail for trying to smuggle heroin out of the country.
Judge Chhay Kong at Phnom Penh Municipal Court says he sentenced Liao Ichun after finding him guilty of trying to smuggle 240 grams of the drug into Taiwan.
A number of Taiwanese nationals have been [...]

The government is seeking to increase the 2009 budget for the Ministry of Defense to $500 million, nearly 70 percent more than the year before, a finance lawmaker confirmed Monday.
The increase in defense spending, which the government had sought to reduce in recent years, comes as a sometimes violent military standoff with Thailand continues.
The standoff [...]

The Preah Vihear dispute has so far only marginally reduced cross-border trade with Cambodia, but business is likely to deteriorate further in the long run, said Sommart Khunset, deputy secretary-general of the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI).
Until now, the appeal of Thai personal-care products in Cambodia meant bilateral trade worth 20 billion baht had not [...]

The dispute between Cambodia and Thailand over an ancient temple complex continues to challenge both countries. Cambodia says Thai troops damaged an ancient temple during a recent military clash. The allegation comes after the two governments promised that negotiations to resolve a dispute will resume next month. Rory Byrne has this report from Phnom Penh.
Thailand [...]

BANGKOK (AFP) — Thailand’s foreign ministry on Monday denied Cambodian claims that Thai soldiers had damaged the ancient Preah Vihear temple with rocket fire during a border shoot-out earlier this month.
In a statement, the ministry said Thai soldiers had only fired rifles, and instead accused Cambodian troops of using rockets during the clashes on disputed [...]

PAILIN, Oct 27 (IPS) – For ex-Maoist guerrillas in the former Khmer Rouge stronghold of Pailin, close to the Thai border, the last decade has been a crash course in market economics.
The town of approximately 22,000 went from playing a key role in the country’s long-running civil war, to being feted by Phnom Penh after [...]

(BangkokPost.com) – Information Department director-general and Foreign Ministry spokesman Tharit Charungvat believed the international community would be able to read Cambodia’s intent after it accused Thai soldiers of physically damaging Preah Vihear temple.

He noted that when Cambodia responded positively, it would usually expressed another way a day later, such as the brief gunfire between troops [...]

Authorities in Cambodia have provided UNESCO with photographs of damage to a heritage listed temple, they say was caused by Thai soliders.
Cambodia has lodged an official complaint with the United Nation body accusing the troops of damaging the ancient Preah Vihear temple during a border shoot-out earlier this month.
The Thai foreign ministry has issued a [...]

We’re sitting at the dining room table and no one is saying a word. We all have food balanced on our spoons, mouths open, but the stories from our host are so gripping and monumental that the two haven’t quite met. Then all of a sudden: “Who wants to hear a landmine joke?”
Without missing a [...]

Phnom Penh – Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong Sunday confirmed reports that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting set for Bangkok in December has been moved to the northern city of Chiang Mai amid political unrest.
Hor Namhong was the first non-Thai ASEAN official to officially confirm the move, returning from talks with Thai [...]