Cambodian guards to protect Preah Vihear temple
May 13, 2008
The recently-established Preah Vihear National Authority (PVNA) has
announced plans to deploy 22 uniformed guards to protect Preah Vihear
temple from looters, local media re****ted Tuesday.
"The guards will consist of 11 men and 11 women. They will be assigned
to the temple next month to prevent the theft of temple stones," PVNA
General Director Hang Soth was quoted by the Mekong Times, a local
newspaper, as saying.
Kong Sophearak, director of the Tourism Ministry's Statistics and
Information Department, expressed sup****t for the PVNA's plan,
claiming that the guards will not only protect the temples, but also
give tourists more confidence to visit the remote site.
Preah Vihear temple perches atop the Dangrek Mountains close to the
Thai border, the newspaper said.
No guards have protected the temple since the International Court of
Justice handed owner****p of the temple to Cambodia in 1962, though
troops have regularly been deployed at the contentious site, it said.
The temple was occupied by Thailand 1949-1952, and there is still
tension between the two countries over the exact location of the
border.
Source:Xinhua
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