Prawit Wongsuwon is a Thai politician who served as the First Deputy Prime Minister from 2014 to 2023, Minister of Defence from 2008 to 2011 during the government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and from 2014 to 2019 in the first government of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha. He also previously served as the deputy chairman of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), a military junta which ruled Thailand from 2014 to 2019. From 2004 to 2005 he was the commander-in-chief of the Royal Thai Army (RTA).
Prawit at the ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting, Singapore in 2018
The 2010 ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting Plus, Prawit Wongsuwan (center)
Prawit Wongsuwon with Defense Secretary James Mattis at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. in 2018
Prayut Chan-o-cha is a Thai retired politician and army officer who became the 29th Prime Minister of Thailand from 2014 when he seized power in a military coup, to 2023. He also served as the minister of defence, a position he held in his own government from 2019 to 2023. Prayut served as Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Thai Army from 2010 to 2014 and led the 2014 Thai coup d'état which installed the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), the military junta which governed Thailand between 22 May 2014 and 10 July 2019.
Prayut in 2019
Prayut in Royal Guards uniform, 2011
Prayut with U.S. General Martin Dempsey, 2012
Prayut as commander-in-chief of the Royal Thai Army, 2013
