Cambodian king to sue HK paper

Cambodian king to sue HK paper

PHNOM PENH (AP): King Norodom Sihanouk plans to take court
action against a Hong Kong newspaper and one of its reporters who
wrote that a possible successor to the Cambodian throne was not
his own son.

In a written statement, received Thursday, Sihanouk said he
would take his case against the South China Morning Post and
reporter William Barnes before a court in Hong Kong.

The article, published July 1, said that one of the "soft
candidates" to succeed the 77-year-old constitutional monarch was
Prince Norodom Sihamoni "though the king is not his father."

Sihanouk, saying he had consulted a lawyer in France, noted
that the "odious calumny" could have an effect on the plan of
succession and open a fruitless political and constitutional
debate.

Sihamoni is a ballet dancer living in Paris.