'Hands off Koh Kut': Thailand stands firm at UN talks
published : 16 Sep 2026 at 08:15
writer: Gary Boyle
ORIGINAL SOURCE/WRITER: Online Reporters
Thailand has made its position clear during maritime border talks with Cambodia under the UN law of the sea - Koh Kut is not part of the reconciliation process.
Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow said in his opening statement on Tuesday that the meeting should be limited only to the maritime boundary dispute between Thailand and Cambodia, and land borders should be not be included in the hearing.
"This conciliation process does not concern sovereignty over land, which includes the island of Koh Kut," the minister said. "Thailand rejects Cambodia's 1972 continental shelf claim line, which is without legal basis."
Koh Kut is an island district in Trat province, in the eastern Gulf of Thailand, bordering Cambodia. Cambodia unilaterally claimed its continental shelf line in 1972 and included Koh Kut.
Mr Sisasak said on several occasions before the meeting of the Conciliation Commission that any maritime demarcation would clearly show the island belongs to Thailand.
The panel was set up under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to seek a solution to the dispute between Thailand and Cambodia. The meeting is in Singapore and will end on Wednesday.
Vocabulary
- boundary: a real or imagined line that marks the edge or limit of something - เขตแดน,เส้นแบ่งเขต
- claim: saying that you have the right to have or own something, especially land or property - การอ้างสิทธิ
- conciliation: a process that is intended to end an argument between two groups of people - การประนอม, การไกล่เกลี่ยข้อพิพาท
- demarcation: (the making of) a border or a rule that shows the limits of something or how things are divided - การแบ่งเขต, การกำหนดเขต,เส้นแบ่งเขต
- dispute: a serious disagreement - ข้อโต้แย้ง
- hearing (noun): an official meeting at which the facts about a crime, complaint, etc. are presented to the person or group of people who will have to decide what action to take - การพิจารณา
- maritime: connected with human activity at sea; near the sea or coast - ทางทะเล, เกี่ยวกับทะเล
- sovereignty: the right of a country to rule itself - อำนาจอธิปไตย อำนาจเด็จขาดเหนือพื้นที่
- unilateral: done or decided by one country, group, or person, often without considering what other countries etc think or want - ที่เป็นฝ่ายเดียว, ด้านเดียว, ฝ่ายเดียว



