The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand expresses its deepest condolences to the family, colleagues and many friends of Natapanu Nopakun, who has died suddenly in Bangkok after a short illness.
Natapanu had only shared its gravity with a few and was six days short of his 50th birthday. He leaves behind his wife, Nitima, and their child, Sasinipa.
Extremely personable, Natapanu was a natural diplomat who had significant positive interaction with the professional membership of the FCCT in recent years as deputy director general of the Department of Information at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He became more widely known as Thailand’s English-language government spokesman during the COVID-19 pandemic, and was expected soon to take up an ambassadorial posting.
Natapanu grew up partly in the Philippines, where he lived from 1986 to 1993, and graduated from De La Salle University in Manila. Among other places, he furthered his studies with a Fulbright-ASEAN visiting scholarship at Johns Hopkins University in the US.
A career diplomat, Natapanu had 27 years of experience in bilateral and multilateral relations. He handled projects related to all parts of the world, and worked on many substantive issues, including rural development, human trafficking, human rights, disarmament, refugees, migration, corruption, global health and regional security.
From 2008 to 2011, he was an official interpreter and speechwriter for three prime ministers as MOFA’s liaison to Government House in Bangkok. Overseas postings took him to Phnom Penh and Washington, DC, as well as Thailand’s mission to the United Nations in Geneva, where he served as minister-counsellor from 2012 to 2016. Prior to assuming his last position, he was a director in MOFA’s international organizations department.
Funeral rites at Wat Phra Sri Mahathat Varamahavihara (also spelt Woramahawihan), Bangkhen
Thursday, 7 December
4pm Bathing rites
5pm Royally-granted bathing water arrives
5.30pm Royal prayer ceremony
Friday, 8 December and Saturday, 9 December
6.30pm Royal prayer ceremony
Sunday, 10 December - Wednesday, 13 December
6.30pm Royal prayer ceremony
(MOFA Department of Information cohosting on Tuesday, 12 December)
Sunday, 17 December 2023
11am Food offering to monks
5pm Royally-granted funeral flame commences cremation at Crematorium 2
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