NSC chief awaits PM’s green light to assess latest border attack
Thailand’s NSC secretary-general Chatchai Bangkwad says he is awaiting caretaker PM Anutin Charnvirakul’s approval to convene a meeting to assess whether to suspend the latest agreement with Cambodia after a Chong Bok mortar incident that injured a sergeant major.
The secretary-general of the National Security Council said on Tuesday that he is awaiting a green light from caretaker Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul to convene an NSC meeting on whether to suspend the latest joint agreement with Cambodia following Tuesday morning’s attack.
NSC secretary-general Chatchai Bangkwad said the latest joint agreement reached at the most recent Thailand-Cambodia General Border Committee (GBC) meeting remained in place despite a mortar attack at the Chong Bok pass in Nam Yuen district, Ubon Ratchathani.
A mortar round fired from the Cambodian side landed on Hill 469, injuring a sergeant major.
Chatchai said the NSC had yet to investigate the incident in detail and would need to convene a meeting to assess the situation before he could say whether the joint agreement should be suspended.
He added that Anutin had not yet signalled for the NSC to hold a meeting on the incident.
Chatchchai said he would first wait to see whether the caretaker Cabinet’s weekly meeting on Tuesday discussed the issue.
Asked whether the NSC would change its policy towards Cambodia after the latest incident, Chatchai said the framework of the joint statement remained in place for now.
