Phnom Penh (FN), May 4 - The Japanese Ambassador to Cambodia Hidehisa Horinouchi held a memorial service on Friday for Haruyuki Takata, the 33-year-old Japanese police officer who was killed in a Khmer Rouge ambush in 1993 in northwestern Cambodia during a U.N. peacekeeping operation.

The event was held at Por Senchey’s Tang Krosang pagoda near Phnom Penh International Airport, attended by Japanese Ambassador to Cambodia Hidehisa Horinouchi, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Chum Sounry, as well as representatives of the Royal Government of Cambodia and representatives of Japanese associations in Cambodia.

“The late-Superintendent Mr. Takata had diligently attended to his duties as a member of...Japan’s first participation in a United Nations Peace Keeping Operation in history,” said Hidehisa Horinouchi.

The ambassador added that Japan and Cambodia will continue to strengthen the bonds that have been forged between the two nations.

Chum Sounry, on behalf of Cambodia, expressed deep respect for the souls of Haruyuki Takata and Atsuhito Nakata, a Japanese UN Volunteer working as a District Electoral Supervisor killed in Kampong Thom in 1993 during his mission with the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC).

“Their deaths prompted the Japanese public to demand the withdraw of the 600 Self-Defense Forces soldiers and 75 civilian police sent to Cambodia as peacekeepers, or at least their pull back to safer zones,” Kyodo wrote.
=FRESH NEWS