Over 1,000 reporters to cover Cambodian King Father’s cremation next month

Souce:Xinhua 
Publish By Thomas Whittle
Updated 15/01/2013 

PHNOM PENH, Jan. 14 — More than 1,000 local and foreign reporters have registered with the Ministry of Information to cover the funeral of Cambodian ex-king Norodom Sihanouk early next month, Cambodian government spokesman and information minister Khieu Kanharith said Monday.

Sihanouk died of illness at the age of 90 in Beijing on Oct. 15, last year. Currently, his body is lying in state at Cambodian capital’s Royal Palace for the public to pay tribute.

The body will be moved from the Royal Palace to a custom-built crematorium at the Meru field next to the Palace on Feb. 1 and kept it for another three days at the site before it is cremated on Feb. 4.

“It is expected that at least 1.5 million people will attend the ceremonies,” he said.

Prime Minister Hun Sen said Monday that a lot of foreign guests will attend the king’s cremation on Feb. 4.

There will be the firing of cannons three times during the king ‘s procession and cremation, he said, adding that 101 cannon shots will be fired each time.

“It is the largest funeral; we hold it to express our deepest gratitude to the King Father for his royal crusade to gain independence from France (in 1953) and led national construction from 1954 to 1970,” he said.

Sihanouk suffered from various forms of cancer, diabetes and hypertension and had been treated by Chinese doctors in Beijing for years before his death.

He wrote in a royal letter in January, 2012 that he requested his body to be cremated instead of being buried and his ashes to be put in an urn, preferably made of gold, and placed in a stupa at the Royal Palace.