CAMBODIA : King Sihanouk Speaks of Suicide

Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk says he would commit suicide in despair over his country’s chronic strife and poverty if it were not against his religious beliefs. In an interview in his monthly palace bulletin, Sihanouk indicated that his depression over Cambodia’s woes since a July coup deposed his son has hit new depths. “If I wasn’t a Buddhist, I would kill myself, because the end of my life is filled with shame, humiliation and despair over the national order,” Sihanouk said in the interview, dated Oct. 5. The king returned to Cambodia last month after extensive medical treatment in China. In recent years, he has suffered from cancer, now in remission, a stroke, hardening of the arteries and cataracts.