[2] His other notable works include the founding of the Chatuchak Market which also helped to solve the Din Daeng Garbage Mountain issue, the Village Health Volunteers organization which acts as a crucial model in Thailand public primary care, the founding of the Ministry of Science and Technology,[3] the passing of the first-ever bills to include tourism in the government economic development plans and the upgrading of the Tourism Authority of Thailand from organizational level to state level,[4] the passing of the current consumer protection acts and organizations and the founding of Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University.

In Korea, he served as commander of Infantry Battalion III which fought in the Battle of Pork Chop Hill, from which he was one of only a few of the non-citizen officers to receive the Legion of Merit.

He was born to a wealthy business family that ran the Mahachai trading company, which dealt in importing and exporting goods between Thailand and the West and Japan.

On 15 March 1953, by direction of the US president and under the provision of the 1942 Act of the US Congress, then-lieutenant Kriangsak became one among few non-U.S. military personnel to be awarded the Legion of Merit (Officer degree) for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services.

[11] In 1977, Kriangsak was part of the National Administrative Reform Council (NARC), which staged a successful coup d'état against Prime Minister Thanin Kraivichien.

Furthermore, members and close aides of the royal family also became targets of attacks by the communist insurgents, including the assassination of the queen's secretary and a bomb explosion near the king while he was visiting the south of Thailand.

With increasing unrest, the Thanin government was finally successfully overthrown on 20 October 1977 when a clique of Thai military officers known as the Young Turks pressured Kriangsak and General Sangad Chaloyu, who had led the 1976 coup that ousted the elected civilian government of Seni Pramoj and appointed the royal favorite Thanin as prime minister.

As prime minister, Kriangsak moved to moderate and neutralize his predecessor Thanin's severe measures, which had driven young Thai intellectuals from multiple universities to join the communist insurgency in the countryside.

In 1978, in a major risk to his political position with his right leaning supporting base, he submitted an amnesty bill to the National Legislative Assembly to release the Bangkok 18, a group of leftist students and labor activist jailed after the Thammasat University massacre that preceded the 1976 coup.

[17] However, claims of a deal involving the Khmer Rouge was denied by the Thai government, which cites his policy of reunification and offers of amnesty as the primary reason for the decline of the communist insurgency.

In January 1978, Bangkok and Hanoi signed an accord on trade and economic and technical cooperation, agreeing also to exchange ambassadors, reopen aviation links, resolve all problems through negotiations, and consult on the question of delimiting sea boundaries.

Progress toward improved relations with the Indochinese states came to an abrupt halt, however, after Vietnam invaded Cambodia in December 1978, and in January 1979 installed in Phnom Penh a new communist regime friendly to Hanoi.

His government also launched a major diplomatic offensive to press for the withdrawal of all Vietnamese forces from Cambodia and for continued international recognition of Democratic Kampuchea under Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge regime.

Such reassurances were believed to be necessary in view of Vietnamese accusations that Thailand collaborated with China and the United States in aiding and abetting the Khmer Rouge forces against the Heng Samrin regime.

[19] The Thai offensive, backed by Bangkok's ASEAN partners, was rewarded in a United Nations (UN) General Assembly resolution adopted in November 1979.

He enlisted more civilians to top jobs than any previous regime, granted amnesty to communists and dissidents who were jailed for fighting a military crackdown in 1976, promulgated the country's 12th constitution, and set up a timetable for full parliamentary democracy in 1979.

[17][1] Prior to Kriangsak's time in office, with America clearly in retreat from military involvement on the Southeast Asian mainland, Thai self-preservation dictated a policy of realignment.

Within days of the congressional cutoff of American bombing in Cambodia in August 1973, the U.S. and Thai governments announced the first drawdown of U.S. personnel in Thailand.

The fall of the regime of Thanom Kittikachorn and Praphas Charusathien on 15 October 1973, added further impetus, because the student protestors, who had sparked the revolt, demanded, among other things, a more independent foreign policy for Thailand, including the removal of American bases.

[20] In May 1974, U.S. forces in Thailand were cut to 34,000 (compared with a wartime high of 50,000 in December 1972), and statements by Thai officials clearly indicated an inclination toward complete U.S. military withdrawal.

Diplomatic recognition was extended to Romania, Outer Mongolia, and Czechoslovakia, a North Korean trade delegation visited Bangkok, and relations with China continued to warm.

As the April denouement approached in Vietnam and Cambodia, Thailand's survival instincts dictated increased public resistance to U.S. security policies in Indochina.

American policymakers in the immediate aftermath of Saigon's fall made public statements indicating that previous commitments to the defense of Thailand might no longer be binding.

The U.S. response to the Thai government announcement on 20 March that U.S. military activity in Thailand must end "forthwith" was a forthright "We don't stay where we are not wanted."

[24] Kriangsak's position toward Vietnam following the December 1978 invasion of Cambodia was remarkably steadfast and obscures the fact that Thai foreign policy in 1973–1978 was based on diplomatic flexibility and accommodation with Hanoi and Phnom Penh.

In contrast, the Vietnamese response to Khmer Rouge activity was entirely military: escalation and counterstrikes by both sides led eventually to full-scale war and invasion.

Military security along the Thai–Cambodian border improved slowly after Thai Foreign Minister Upadit Pachariyangkun's "goodwill visit" to Phnom Penh in late January 1978, which resulted in an agreement to exchange ambassadors.

According to the internal talking points prepared for Carter, the President cited the close historical relations as well as economic and regional cooperation in Southeast Asia.

[17] "I have decided to resign the prime ministership so that democracy can be maintained," Kriangsak told a special session of parliament, which had gathered to debate his governments policies before a vote of confidence.

On 22 October, a Thai colonel contacted UNHCR and said that the Kriangsak government had decided to additionally admit 90,000 Cambodians who were situated on the border.