(Hanoi = Yonhap News) Correspondent Park Jin-hyung = The background to the armed conflict between Thailand and Cambodia, which has resulted in 32 deaths so far, is the border dispute between the two countries that has continued for the past several decades.
According to the Associated Press, the New York Times (NYT), and the Washington Post (WP) on the 26th (local time), the origins of the conflict between the two countries date back to the early 1900s.
In 1904, France, which was ruling Cambodia at the time, signed a border treaty with Thailand (then the Kingdom of Siam) and included the Preah Vihear temple, built around the 10th century on the border between eastern Thailand and northern Cambodia, into Thai territory.
The problem is that a surveying error on a border map drawn up by France in 1907 marked the temple as Cambodian territory.
The Thai government approved the map at the time without discovering the error, only to discover it decades later.
However, the issue was not raised until 1954, when the French withdrew from Cambodia and troops were sent to occupy the temple.
In response, Cambodia demanded the withdrawal of Thai troops, and when Thailand did not accept this, it brought the case to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 1959.
The ICJ ruled that the temples were Cambodian territory, citing Thailand's approval of the map in question in 1962 and failure to contest ownership of the temples in the decades that followed.
Thai discontent over the ruling began in earnest in 2008, when Cambodia applied to have Preah Vihear temple listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Angry Thai protesters entered the area around the temple and were detained by Cambodian forces for border crossing. Thai troops entered the area, and a standoff ensued between the two armies, which led to a small-scale exchange of gunfire.
In addition, other historical sites, such as Ta Moan Thom Temple in the border area, have been embroiled in territorial disputes due to the conflict between the two countries.
In 2011, the conflict between the two countries erupted into full-scale fighting again, with 10 people killed in February fighting. In April, around 20 people were killed and tens of thousands of residents in the area were displaced.
Cambodia again took the issue of sovereignty over the area around the Preah Vihear temple to the ICJ, and in 2013 the ICJ again ruled in Cambodia's favor.
The border conflict then remained dormant for about a decade before being revived in late May with small-scale fighting in the border area near the Preah Vihear temple.
Immediately after the clashes, Thai Prime Minister Patongthan Shinawatra and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet agreed to resolve the conflict, but the conflict gradually escalated over the issue of troop withdrawal from the conflict zone.
In June, Prime Minister Pha Thong Thanh dealt a fatal blow to Cambodia's de facto leader, Senate Chairman Hun Sen, when he effectively leaked the contents of a phone call he had with Cambodia's Senate Chairman, Hun Sen, to resolve the conflict.
Prime Minister Patongtan's disparaging remarks about the Thai military commander in charge of the disputed border area sparked a backlash in Thailand, and he was suspended from office by the Constitutional Court.
Then, on the 23rd, Thailand expelled the Cambodian ambassador to Thailand and recalled the Thai ambassador to Cambodia after two landmine explosions occurred in the border area within a week, injuring seven Thai soldiers.
The clash between the two countries escalated into a large-scale battle the next day, on the 24th, and the battle has continued for the third day as of today.
