Cambodia has become an attractive tourist, investment and trade destination in Asia, said Prime Minister Samdech Moha Borvor Thipadei Hun Manet while pressing over the official opening ceremony of the 8th River Festival in Siem Reap provincial city this evening.

The Premier also laid stress on the significance of the tourism sector, saying that it is a key driving force for Cambodia’s economic growth in the last 30 years.

Samdech Thipadei called on relevant ministries and institutions to continue to prioritise the development of riverine areas, particularly in the provinces around the Mekong River and Tonle Sap Lake, to build essential infrastructure supporting tourism, enhance connectivity, and improve transportation.

The 8th River Festival has been taking place from Mar. 15 to 17 along the Siem Reap River, between the Royal Residence and Wat Bo pagoda, to promote tourism potential along the riparian provinces in Cambodia.

Under the theme ‘River for Peace and Development,’ this year’s event features art
performances and concerts by national and international artists, a fireworks display, local products exhibition, a tourism fair, a Mekong food festival, and entertainment activities.

River Festival is organised every year on a rotation basis by the riparian provinces, and the first event was organised in Kratie in 2015, followed by the second in Stung Treng, the third in Kampong Cham and Thbong Khmum, the fourth in Kandal, the fifth in Kampong Chhnang, the sixth in Battambang, and the seventh in Kampong Thom.

Source: Agence Kampuchea Presse

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has guided military drills involving the country’s paratroopers and called for full preparations for war, state media said Saturday, in an apparent protest of the latest joint military exercise staged by South Korea and the United States.

The training of air-borne military units held Friday was aimed at inspecting paratroopers’ readiness to be mobilized for any military operation plan in “surprise wartime circumstances,” according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Kim stressed that the “primary duty” of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) is to make full preparations for war.

“He underlined the need for all the service personnel of the KPA to firmly arm themselves with the strong will against the enemy and thoroughgoing outlook on war that they have to change history without fail if a war breaks out,” the KCNA said.

Photos carried by the KCNA showed Kim being accompanied by his teen daughter, believed to be named Ju-ae, in inspecting the drills.

Seoul and Washington wr
apped up the annual Freedom Shield exercise on Thursday after staging it for 11 days to strengthen deterrence against North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats.

In response, the North’s leader guided military exercises, including artillery firing drills and training involving tank units.

The North’s leader has defined inter-Korean ties as relations between “two states hostile to each other” and vowed to control the South Korean territory in the event of war.

Meanwhile, the North Korean leader attended a ceremony marking the completion of building a greenhouse farm with his daughter on Friday, according to a separate dispatch by the KCNA.

The Kangdong Greenhouse Farm, built on the site of a military airfield near Pyongyang, is the third modernized farm built in recent years to grow vegetables amid a chronic food shortage. North Korea built similar greenhouse farms in Hamgyong Province in 2019 and 2022.

The latest inspection marked Ju-ae’s third public activity in the economy-related sector since she first
made a public appearance in November 2022. She mostly accompanied her father to military events.

The North’s media used the rare expression of “the great persons of guidance” in an apparent reference to Kim Jong-un and Ju-ae.

“If the expression means Kim and his daughter, it would be the first time that she been given the status of a great guide (of the country),” said Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies.

“But given that there has been no personality cult about her and her name has not been publicly mentioned, it does not appear that she has been ultimately anointed as Kim Jong-un’s successor,” he added.

The National Intelligence Service, South Korea’s spy agency, said it sees Ju-ae as Kim Jong-un’s “most likely successor,” citing her public activities and the level of the North’s respect toward her.

Source: Yonhap News Agency