To find out more about the author, editor or agency that supplied this story – please click below.
Story By: James King, Sub-Editor: Alex Cope, Agency: Newsflash

A Cambodian man has been forgiven for scratching his name on the wall of the historic Angkor Wat temple complex after being caught by police and signing a written apology.

Specialist officers from the Heritage Protection Police were called in over the weekend when it was realised that somebody had scrawled their name on the wall of the temple complex, the world’s largest religious monument in terms of the land area.

Angkor Wat stretches over 402 acres and was originally built as a Hindu place of worship that was dedicated to the god Vishnu before slowly transitioning into a Buddhist temple in the 12th century.

The temple is one of the most iconic symbols of Cambodia and even appears on the country’s national flag as well as being a major tourist attraction.

Chuon Choeun, aged 31, from the village of Trapeang Koul near Phnom Penh, reportedly used a car key to scratch his name on one of the ancient walls.

After being tracked down and arrested, he signed an apology promising not to do it again, and was released without charge or a fine and was also told he was welcome to visit the temple again in the future.

However, pictures of his signed promise not to do it again were shared by local media as a warning to others not to do the same.

The ViralTab page is created by and dedicated to professional, independent freelance journalists. It is a place for us to showcase our work. When our news is sold to our media partners, we will include the link here.