The Situation in Bangkok, the Kingdom of Thailand (Message from Mr. Kasit Piromya, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Thailand, to Mr. Katsuya Okada, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan)

April 11, 2010
Japanese

1. On April 10 (Sat), a clash between demonstrators and the security forces resulted in many casualities in Bangkok, the Kingdom of Thailand, including Mr. Hiroyuki Muramoto, a Japanese journalist, who was also killed in the clash. On the same day, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan and the Embassy of Japan in Thailand to the Royal Thai Embassy, Tokyo and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand respectively expressed regret on this case of Mr. Muramoto’s death, and asked the Government of Thailand to investigate the situation and to pay the utmost consideration to ensure the safety of Japanese nationals in Thailand.
   
   
2. On the morning of April 11 (Sun), the following message from Mr. Kasit Piromya, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Thailand, to Mr. Katsuya Okada, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, was sent from Mr. Virasakdi Futrakul, Ambassador of Thailand to Japan, to Mr. Hiroshi Inomata, Director General of the Southeast and Southwest Asian Affairs Department.
   (1) I express my sincere condolences and sympathy for the death of Japanese journalist Mr. Hiroyuki Muramoto, and send my condolences to the bereaved family on behalf of the Government of Thailand. As Mr. Abhisit Vejjajiva, Prime Minister of Thailand, announced last night to establish a committee to investigate this conflict.
   (2) The Government of Thailand makes the utmost efforts to control the situation in a restrained way, and to normalize the situation as soon as possible.
   (3) The Government of Thailand is committed to expending every effort to ensure the safety of Japanese citizens in Thailand.

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