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.