Cambodia says it will take border dispute with Thailand to top UN court

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Cambodia said it plans to seek a ruling from the U.N.'s International Court of Justice over border disputes with Thailand, one of which triggered a fatal military clash last week.

Cambodia's National Assembly, where Prime Minister Hun Manet's ruling Cambodian People's Party holds all but a handful of seats, voted on Monday to support the government's decision.

In 1962, the ICJ awarded to Cambodia the disputed territory on which a historic temple is located, rankled Thailand and to this day remains a major irritant in bilateral relations. The ICJ reaffirmed its ruling in 2013.

Speaking on Monday at a meeting of the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Thailand's Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa said Cambodia has the right to file a case with the court, but that would not affect talks between the two countries under existing mechanisms He said Thai officials will meet later this week to issue a clear stance on the matter.

Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai, who is also defense minister, said in a post on Facebook that both countries are working to resolve the crisis by avoiding further confrontations and violence.

''I'd like to assure that we will avoid escalation of the conflict that would only result in losses for both sides in every aspect,'' he wrote.

A border dispute near Morokot village, in Cambodia's northwestern province of Preah Vihear, on May 28 left one Cambodian soldier dead. It began when Cambodian troops were conducting a routine patrol along the border when the Thai side opened fire, according to Cambodian officials.

The Thai army says that Cambodian soldiers entered a disputed patch of land and opened fire when Thai soldiers approached them to negotiate.

Hun Manet in social media posts on Sunday declared that his government will ask the court to rule on the demarcation of several disputed areas, including where the centuries-old Hindu-style Ta Moan Thom, Ta Moan Toch and Ta Kro Bei temples are located.

In February, Cambodian troops and their family members entered the Ta Moan Thom temple in disputed territory and sang the Cambodian national anthem, leading to a brief argument with Thai forces.

Following last week's incident, both sides called for calm and talks to ease their differences, while reserving the right to use military action to safeguard their sovereignty. On May 29, the two countries' army commanders met to discuss how to avoid more clashes

On Monday, Hun Manet called for the two countries to have their Joint Border Commission continue the work of border demarcation, as well as having the ICJ take up the issue.

He said his government would take the cases of the other disputed areas to the ICJ to determine ownership even if Thailand did not join in the appeal, in order ''to end this problem and extinguish it once and for all so that there is no further confusion.''

''In particular, let's not fall for the incitement of a handful of extremist groups in Cambodia and Thailand, and let's not fall into the problem of confrontation by armed forces of the two countries,'' he said.

Hun Manet's intention to appeal to The Hague-based court may touch a raw nerve in Thailand, because the 1962 ruling awarding the major Preah Vihear temple to Cambodia is a touchstone issue for Thai nationalists. and wielded in domestic politics.

Last year, Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinatwatra's government was attacked on nationalist grounds for proposing to resume talks with Cambodia on demarcation of maritime territory believed to hold profitable hydrocarbon resources.

In 2008, there were several deadly clashes between Cambodia and Thai forces at the Preah Vihear promontory, an area on which sits a 1,000-year-old temple that was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site that same year.

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Associated Press writer Jintamas Saksornchai in Bangkok contributed to this report.