Decision on Preah Vihear judgement delayed

  

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has decided to postpone delivering its verdict on the dispute between Thailand and Cambodia  Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul said Friday.

It is expected that the ruling concerning the interpretation of the ICJ's 1962 judgement on the Hindu shrine will now be delivered around February, he said.

“I have been informed that the ICJ judges are busy with other cases pending in the court. So the case over the Preah Vihear dispute has to be delayed,” he said.

Thailand and Cambodia are in conflict over the interpretation of the 1962 judgement of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which ruled that the Preah Vihear temple is situated in territory under the sovereignty of Cambodia and ordered Thailand to withdraw troops from the temple and its vicinity.

Cambodia asked the court to make clear that the vicinity of the temple should go along with the boundary line appearing in the Annex I map of 1:200,000 scale. Thailand argues it left the “vicinity” of the temple 50 years ago as ordered, and that the area whose status Cambodia wants the court to interpret is not same as that referred to in its previous judgement.