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| Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen (R) meets with Vice Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Yang Hyong-sop in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Oct. 21, 2012. The meetings was made at the Peace Palace after the visiting guest paid the last respects to Cambodia's late former King Norodom Sihanouk at the Royal Palace. (Xinhua/Sovannara) |
PHNOM PENH, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Sunday afternoon met with Vice Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Yang Hyong-sop and Myanmar's Vice President Sai Mauk Kham.
The meetings were made separately at the Peace Palace after they paid their last respects to Cambodia's late former King Norodom Sihanouk at the Royal Palace.
Meeting with Hun Sen after the homage ceremony, Yang Hyong-sop said the demise of the King-Father was a great loss not only for Cambodia, but also for the DPRK as well as the whole world.
He also conveyed deep sympathy from Kim Jong Un, DPRK's top leader, to Hun Sen over the death of late King Sihanouk.
In a separate meeting with Hun Sen, Sai Mauk Kham, on behalf of the government and people of Myanmar, expressed condolences to the Cambodian government, royal families and people over the death of the King-Father.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Hun Sen expressed profound thanks to them for coming to Cambodia to pay their last respects to the King-Father.
Earlier in the day, Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Feliciano R. Belmonte Jr., speaker of the House of Representatives of the Philippines, also paid their last respects to the late King.
The most revered ex-King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia died of illness at the age of 90 in Beijing on Monday and his body was transported to Phnom Penh by Air China jumbo jet on Wednesday afternoon.
The country announced a week of mourning from Oct. 17-23, and the body of the King-Father will be lying in state at least three months at the Royal Palace before it is cremated.
Born on Oct. 31, 1922, Sihanouk reigned the country from 1941 to 1955 and again from 1993 until his voluntary abdication on Oct. 7, 2004 in favor of his son, the current King Norodom Sihamoni.
He was the king who led the country to gain independence from France in 1953. He had been a presence through decades of political and social turmoil in Cambodia, despite long periods of exile overseas.
He was named the father of independence, territorial integrity, and national reconciliation and unity.
He suffered from various forms of cancer, diabetes and hypertension and had been treated by Chinese doctors in Beijing for years before his death.
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