in political science from Brown University, he joined Thailand's Foreign Service in 1968.

Between 1996 and 2000 he was ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Thailand to the United States and then few years later, he became Thailand's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nation in New York.

In 2006 he was appointed by the military junta to be Foreign Minister of Thailand, serving in that post until early 2008.

He was the sixth child of Field Marshal Plaek Phibunsongkhram and Than Phu Ying La-iad Bhandhukravi with three sisters and two brothers.

[3] One of them, Prasong, was a Vice-Admiral who had served under the Royal Thai Armed Forces.