North Korean FM visits Burma

Thursday, 29 July 2010 12:49 Mizzima News

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) - North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui-Chun kicked off his four-day official visit to Burma after arriving in Rangoon on Thursday.

The North Korean delegation led by Mr. Pak Ui-Chun, who attended a Regional Security meeting in Hanoi, arrived in the former capital on a Thai Airways flight. The delegation will also visit Naypyidaw, the seat of the military government.

Sources in Naypyidaw have confirmed the meeting between North Korean Foreign Minister and his Burmese counterpart Nyan Win. Another source said that the visiting Foreign Minister may also meet the regime leader Senior. Gen. Than Shwe.

This is the first ever high level visit by a North Korean delegation to Burma since the normalization of diplomatic relations three years ago.

The Burmese government severed diplomatic ties with North Korea in 1983 when they attacked a delegation led by then South Korean President Chun Du Hwan at the Martyrs Mausoleum in Rangoon. The bomb blast killed 21 people including several South Korean ministers. However as both North Korea and Burma have come under pressure from Western countries in recent years, the two sides began restoring diplomatic relations silently in 1999. Moreover North Korea has become an important supplier of arms and technical assistance to Burma.

Following news reports about Burma's plans to acquire nuclear weapon technology from North Korea, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton criticized military supplies and assistance provided by North Korea to Burma at the Asia Regional Forum held in Vietnam.

Before proceeding to Naypyidaw on the 30th of this month, the North Korean Foreign Minister will first visit Shwedagon Pagoda and the National Museum in Rangoon. After Burma, Pak will go on to visit Laos and Indonesia.

SPDC chief Senior Gen. Than Shwe who is currently on a state visit to India will arrive back in Burma today.

Tension between North and South Korea is high following the torpedo attack on a South Korean naval vessel in March this year which killed 46 sailors. The international investigation team has accused North Korea for the attack.