General Prayut admitted that sometimes he became aggressive with reporters but that was due to work-related stress, adding that he held no personal grudge against them.

“I just want what we are doing to be completed successfully, otherwise we will not be able to move further,” he told the media.

“We have attained many successes. In some areas, we are in the process of doing [work] and almost succeeding. But in some areas, we are just in the starting point.”

Prayut asked the media to accept the fact prime ministers have different characters. “I am what I am,” he said.

The PM gave a commemorative coin in memory of the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej to each of his media well-wishers at Government House.

On Tuesday morning, he and his family offered alms to nine monks at his residence inside the First Infantry Division to mark his birthday.