Former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has been charged with defaming the monarch, the Bangkok Post reported on Tuesday, citing the attorney-general’s official spokesman. Shinawatra, 74, appeared in a Bangkok court and was released on bail of 500,000 baht ($13,600), the report said. Thaksin is accused of defaming the monarch, known as lèse-majesté under the Thai criminal code, during a 2015 interview in South Korea. Thai prosecutors took up the case again last year after he returned from 15 years in exile. He faces a sentence of up to 15 years in prison in a country where lèse-majesté i…