Miss Universe Cambodia team admits error with Thai photos

Pageant organisers regret ‘insufficient verification’ but stop short of apology

PUBLISHED : 23 Sep 2026 at 19:46

The organisers of the Miss Universe Cambodia pageant have acknowledged their use of Thai historical photographs, saying the mistake was unintentional and resulted from “insufficient verification” of the original sources.

The clarification on Wednesday came after the Thai Ministry of Culture sent a warning letter to the pageant organisers on Monday, demanding an apology and correction over its use of Thai photographs to showcase Cambodian traditional clothing.

One of the photographs showed seven Thai women in Kamphaeng Phet province in 1906, during the reign of King Chulalongkorn.

The photograph was part of a collection of glass-plate negatives and preserved at the Phra Vajirayana Royal Library. The collection was inscribed on Unesco’s Memory of the World International Register in 2017.

The Cambodian statement, signed by the pageant’s national director Prasat Davin, said the incorrect presentation was unintentional and resulted from “insufficient verification of the original sources of those images”.

“We would like to emphasise that there was no intention to cause misunderstanding, controversy or offend the feelings of any member of the public, whether nationally or internationally,” it said.

The statement, issued in both Khmer and English, said the sole purpose was to highlight the traditional “Sbai” garment.

However, it made no mention of Thais or Thailand, and did not explicitly apologise for the mixup.

The team said it accepted the feedback and criticism, describing the incident as a “valuable learning experience” that would encourage it to strengthen its verification procedures in the future.