Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on April 18 voiced pleasure at the good relations between Cambodian and Thai governments, armies and people, amid the ongoing oral arguments at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over the disputed land around the Preah Vihear temple.

Addressing the inaugural ceremony for a new office building in Kampot province, the PM valued the fact that people living along the two countries’ border conduct their daily activities and welcome the traditional New Year in peace, while regular official exchanges are still maintained across the border.

Cambodia and Thailand need to peacefully solve the current dispute by legal method at the ICJ, and not to turn small problems into the border-wide disputes, he said.

Earlier on April 15, The Hague-based ICJ began a week of hearings, after Cambodia asked two years ago for an interpretation of the 1962 ruling awarding the 900-year-old Khmer temple to Cambodia.

Thailand does not dispute Cambodia's ownership of the temple, a UNESCO World Heritage site. But both sides claim an enveloping 4.6-square-kilometre patch of land, saying it was not covered by the ruling.-VNA