News & Articles on Burma, Thursday, 23 July 2009
Jul 23rd, 2009
US piles pressure on Burma regime
Intensive recruitment for Burmese Army in Shan State
Report on child soldier released
Palaung Tea Farmers in Debt
US Offer Won’t Lead to Suu Kyi’s Freedom: Opposition Leaders
EDITORIAL Charter change is no guarantee
Displaced in Burma lacking medical aid
Asean Rejects Clinton’s Call To Expel Myanmar – Thai PM
Myanmar activities fuel NKorea nuclear suspicions: expert
Clinton rallies Asia to back NKorea sanctions
Free Suu Kyi and the US May Invest in Burma: Clinton
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Page last updated at 05:57 GMT, Thursday, 23 July 2009 06:57 UK
US piles pressure on Burma regime
Asean leaders are meeting for their regional conference in Thailand
US officials have had a rare meeting with representatives of Burma’s regime.
Unnamed officials told reporters that efforts to improve ties depended partly on the outcome of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s trial.
The US also pressed Burma to enforce a United Nations resolution imposing an arms embargo on North Korea.
The US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been on the diplomatic offensive ahead of a regional meeting now under way in Thailand.
Earlier in her trip to Thailand, she issued warnings about how a nuclear North Korea was unacceptable to the United States, and expressed concerns about the possible transfer of nuclear technology from North Korea to Burma.
The wrong road
Mrs Clinton called for the release of Ms Suu Kyi from many years of detention.
“If she were released, that would open up opportunities… for my country to expand our relationship with Burma, including investments in Burma,” Mrs Clinton said.
Hillary Clinton said North Korea faced continued international isolation
This point was reinforced in the face-to-face meeting between US and Burmese officials on Wednesday night, US officials said.
They said they had told Burma that “the outcome of the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi would affect our willingness and ability to take positive steps in our bilateral relationship”.
Mrs Clinton was not present at the meeting with Burmese officials, and said she did not intend to appear at a possible meeting with North Korean officials either.
She told reporters that the US is convinced that Burma is taking the wrong road by associating with North Korea.
Mrs Clinton also told reporters that North Korea must completely and irreversibly end its nuclear weapons program or face further isolation and “the unrelenting pressure” of international sanctions.
She said there were more positive ways ahead if the North chooses, and she is expected to announce conditions in which the North will be welcomed back into international discussions later on Thursday.
Symbols matter
Meanwhile, Mrs Clinton signed a symbolically important treaty with members of Asean.
The Treaty of Amity and Co-operation binds the US more closely into the regional security architecture – something previous US administrations had fought shy of.
“I want to send a very clear message that the United States is back, that we are fully engaged and committed to our relationships in South East Asia,” she said before the signing the treaty in the resort of Phuket.
Mrs Clinton’s predecessor Condoleezza Rice skipped two Asean forums, leading analysts to remark on how China was gaining friends and influencing people in the perceived US absence.
Mrs Clinton also said the Obama administration would soon appoint a permanent ambassador to Asean headquarters in Jakarta.
Asean comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Burma, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/
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Intensive recruitment for Burmese Army in Shan State
News – Shan Herald Agency for News
Report by Hseng Khio Fah
Wednesday, 22 July 2009 15:41
Hundreds of youths from rural areas in Lashio Township, northern Shan State, are being recruited by junta-backed local militia forces for the Burmese Army since last month, local sources said.
The recruitment drive is led by Bo Mon, leader of Wanpang militia, in areas between Lashio and Tangyan townships under its control.
“One person from every household in each village and village tract must enlist for military service,” said a local resident in Mong Yaw village tract who did not want to be named.
Till date, over 200 youths from Nam Pawng, Man Pang, Mong Yaw, Mong Tawm and Mong Ha villages have left for Pyinmana, near the new capital Naypyitaw, a source said.
To evade recruitment, many have fled to towns and others have left to stay in monasteries as monks. However, some were unable to flee as they were followed and forcibly disrobed by the group. Families and relatives are also being threatened, said another source.
People who can afford to, have to pay at least Kyat 300,000 ($ 273) per person in order to avoid being drafted. “Naturally, there are only a few who can pay,” he said.
The Burmese Army has reportedly planned to send local militia forces to the frontline to fight against the anti-Naypyitaw Shan State Army (SSA) ‘South’ and other groups, said a businessman who is close to an officer from the regional command in Lashio.
“The Tamataw will force the militias to fight against rebels, the same way it is using the DKBA (Democratic Karen Buddhist Army) to fight against KNU (Karen National Union) in the south,” he said.
In June, the joint forces of the Burmese Army and the DKBA had overrun the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA)’s 7th Brigade base following a military offensive against the KNLA, the armed wing of the Karen National Union (KNU). http://www.bnionline.net/news/
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Report on child soldier released
Source: Mizzima News
Date: 22 Jul 2009
by Phanida
Wednesday, 22 July 2009 21:06, Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The unabated recruitment of child soldiers into the Burmese Army has been exposed in a report released by the Thai-Burmese border based ‘Yoma 3′ Burmese News Agency today.
The agency said, it took about one and-a-half years to compile the 72-page ‘Child Soldiers: Burma’s Sons of Sorrow’, which was released on Wednesday at a press conference held along the Thai-Burmese border.
The report includes interviews with two child soldier deserters, a sergeant and four parents of child soldiers forcibly recruited by the army.
“The junta always claims to the international community and UN that it never recruits child soldiers into the army. They also always claim that organizations in exile are disseminating concocted stories to western countries. We wish to let people know clearly what the true facts are,” Nyein Lu, editor of the Yoma 3 told Mizzima.
The report also presented news and photographs of the No. 1 Recruit Centre at Danyinkone Township in Rangoon Division, No. 2 in Mandalay, No. 3 in Yemethin and No. 9 Basic Military Training School in Zay Chaung village of Thaton Township in Mon state.
The group said, the survey and the facts and figures in the report were provided by activists inside Burma, military personnel in the Burma Army and former soldiers.
Yoma 3 news agency was founded in 1998 by pro-democracy and human rights activists, who fled to the border after the 1988 uprising. The report is Yoma 3’s second report on child soldiers.
Despite persistent allegations made by the UN, ILO and Human Rights organizations on the use of child soldiers by the Burmese Army, the junta has always blatantly denied.
In the UN Secretary General’s report released in December 2007, Ban Ki-moon says besides the Burmese Army, there are nine more ethnic armed forces, which also use child soldiers in their respective armed units.
Following severe criticism, Burma’s military rulers in February 2007 allowed the International Labour Organization (ILO) to open a liaison in Rangoon to accept complaints of child soldiers and to help in eliminating the use of children in the army.
According to complaints received by Mizzima, the junta often recruits children mainly between the age of 14-16 from poor family backgrounds in Rangoon, Irrawaddy and Magwe Divisions by using pressure tactics including summoning by quota from each village, intimidation and incentives by way of money.
In 2005, the Yoma 3, published its first child soldier report in collaboration with the Thailand-based ‘Human Rights Education Institute of Burma’ (HREIB).
The group said, they will also present the report to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, Asia Human Right Council and Human Right Watch. http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/
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Palaung Tea Farmers in Debt
By LAWI WENG Thursday, July 23, 2009
Hundreds of ethnic Palaung tea farmers in Shan State are in debt to local moneylenders after taking loans to buy food, according to a report released on Thursday by an umbrella group of Palaung organizations based in Thailand.
Mai Aung Ko, a spokesperson for the Ta’ang [Palaung] Student and Youth Organization, said that there are about 500,000 Palaung people working at tea plantations in Shan State, and that half of them have had to borrow money in the past four months.
Much of the produce from the tea farms cannot be sold at markets in the Palaung region of Shan State because in March the military government banned tea that contained the preservative Auramine 0, a dangerous chemical dye that is harmful to health.
Mai Aung Ko said that the farmers have to sell their tea at very low prices. One viss (Burmese measurement equal to 1.5 kg) of tea leaves currently sells for 500 kyat (US $0.50) at local markets, as opposed to 1,000 kyat ($1) last year.
Based on a survey including interviews with 162 Palaung people affected by the crisis, the Palaung NGOs have concluded that four townships are the worst affected: Namkham, Mantong, Namshan and Kyaukme.
Workers earn roughly 1,500 kyat ($1.50) a day picking tea in Shan State. However, jobs are drying up. Some families also said they couldn’t afford to send their children to high school this year.
The report said that 100,000 Palaung tea farm workers and their families—and even some plantation owners—have abandoned the farms and gone to look for work in China or in the jade mines of Kachin State.
The crisis began when the Burmese health ministry announced in March that 100 brands of ready-made pickled tea leaves had to be taken off market shelves due to possible infection linked to Auramine 0. Following the announcement, many Palaung businessmen saw their tea crops confiscated and destroyed.
According to the Palaung group report, local authorities then confiscated green tea believed to have been infected with Auramine O between March and April. About 200,000 viss (133,000 kg) of green tea with a market value of 40 million kyat ($40,000) was reportedly destroyed.
Local authorities allegedly threatened to put plantation owners in prison for three years if they were caught using Auramine 0 in their tea production.
Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Thursday, Mai Bhone Kyaw, an executive member of the Palaung State Liberation Front, said, “The people are facing food insecurity. They are unable to pay for food, health and education as they have to pay off their debts.”
“The government says they want to improve and secure health for the people, but our people are hungry now. If they really want to improve people’s lives, they should set up new markets,” he said.
“The people are not very happy with the government because they cannot sell their produce at the market now,” said Mai Bhone Kyaw.
In Nanshan Township, there are many people who struggle through the day without enough food, according to the report.
Tea production is a major part of the local economy in ethnic Palaung regions of Shan State. Most tea farmed in the area is sold to Rangoon, Mandalay and other parts of Burma.
According to Myanmartea.com, a Web site representing leading tea producers, some 87,707 metric tons of tea leaves were cultivated in Burma in 2006-2007, of which nearly 70 percent produced green tea. Burmese people consume an average of 0.41 kg of tea per head annually.
Tea production in Burma takes place in the hilly regions of Shan, Kachin, Chin and Karen states, as well as in Sagaing and Mandalay divisions. Shan State is the main tea-growing region with a total sowed area of 67,616 hectares.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/
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US Offer Won’t Lead to Suu Kyi’s Freedom: Opposition Leaders
By SAW YAN NAING Thursday, July 23, 2009
Opposition leaders on Thursday expressed doubt that a US offer of economic investment in Burma in return for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi from prison would lead to the pro-democracy leader’s freedom.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday in Phuket, Thailand, that the US would expand relations with Burma if the military government released opposition leader Suu Kyi, who is now on trial.
“If she [Suu Kyi] were released, that would open up opportunities, at least for my country, to expand our relationship with Burma, including investments in Burma. But it is up to the Burmese leadership,” Clinton said while attending a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).
Burmese political opposition leaders urged the military regime to consider the offer as a way to encourage national reconciliation.
Khin Maung Swe, a spokesperson for Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), said that Clinton’s statement shows how much the international community supports the release of the detained opposition leader, who has been under house arrest for 13 of the past 19 years.
If the Burmese generals followed up on the US offer, it would be a win-win situation with both Burma and the US benefiting from better economic and diplomatic cooperation between the two countries, said Khin Maung Swe.
“The Burmese generals should consider this carefully,” he said.
He said regional leaders should not only talk but also take actions to bring the Burmese regime to the “table of negotiation.”
Win Tin, the most prominent Burmese opposition politician after Suu Kyi, told The Irrawaddy that the Clinton’s statement displayed the weakness of US policy on Burma.
“What about reconciliation dialogue, the election [in 2010] and ethnic issues?” Win Tin asked. “Don’t they know that they would detain her again?”
Win Tin himself spent 19 years in prison and was unexpectedly released late last year.
Chan Htun, a Rangoon-based, veteran politician and former ambassador to China, said Clinton’s statement was positive.
“I would like to urge the Burmese generals to seriously consider the future of the country and cooperate with the offer,” Chan Htun said. “But, that’s only my wish. The Burmese regime will do whatever it wants and will listen to nobody.”
He said he doesn’t believe Burma’s No 1 general, Snr-Gen Than Shwe, will consider the offer.
A prominent Mon politician, Nai Ngwe Thein, who is vice president (1) of the Mon National Democratic Front in Mon State in southern Burma, said, “It is a good offer. But, I don’t think they [the generals] will follow up on it.”
At a press conference on Wednesday, Clinton said the US is seriously concerned about the closer military cooperation between Burma and North Korea, and Burma’s possible pursuit of “offensive weapons including nuclear weapons.”
The US imposed economic sanctions on Burma in 1997, preventing new US investment in the military-ruled country. It tightened economic sanctions that banned importing goods from Burma again in 2003, following an attack on Suu Kyi’s convoy by regime-backed thugs in northern Burma.
A veteran journalist who works at a foreign wire service in Rangoon said that he doesn’t believe the regime will consider the US offer.
“You can’t go and bribe the regime [in exchange for Suu Kyi’s release],” he said.
But the correspondent said that there has been growing optimism among the Burmese people that Suu Kyi’s prison sentence might be reduced because of the pressure from the international community.
“People are saying that the regime will put her back under house arrest with a three-year sentence,” he said. “They [the junta] still want to take her out of the election in 2010.” If convicted, she could receive up to a five-year prison sentence.
Asked to predict whether the regime might consider freeing Suu Kyi anytime soon, he said, “We are dealing with a very peculiar regime. They are unpredictable.”
http://www.irrawaddy.org/
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EDITORIAL Charter change is no guarantee
Published: 23/07/2009 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News
The attempt to amend the Constitution has moved one big step forward, with the parliamentary committee assigned to study the charter to identify “problematic” provisions which require amending, having completed its task within the 45-day timeframe. Six issues have been singled out for amendment by the committee, among them are: Article 237 about party dissolution and withdrawal of election rights of party executives; Articles 111-121 about senators, who will all be elected; and there will be 400 constituency MPs and 100 list MPs, with election constituencies to be made smaller to accommodate one MP for each constituency.
Despite this first-step progress, no timeframe has been set for the next process of deliberating the committee’s proposed amendments. It all depends on the coalition government MPs, especially the Democrats, who appear not so enthusiastic about the charter change. Even among the coalition parties, there are still differences of opinion regarding some of the six proposed amendments, particularly Article 237. Thus, there is a strong likelihood that the amendment process will drag on for a long period, with no one knowing for sure whether the amendment attempt will succeed or collapse in the end.
But the most contentious point made by the committee is the proposal for a sweeping amnesty to be granted to all convicted political offenders, including banned politicians of the disbanded Thai Rak Thai, People’s Power, Chart Thai and Matchimathippataya parties. The committee believes that the only way to bring about national reconciliation is through a general amnesty for these banned politicians.
That the committee came up with such a controversial proposal should not surprising, since its leader, Mr Direk Thoengfung, is a Puea Thai MP of Nonthaburi. The opposition Puea Thai Party made the amnesty issue the top agenda on its political platform. Whether the proposal will be realised at all remains a big question mark. But what is quite certain is that it will face fierce resistance from the anti-Thaksin People’s Alliance for Democracy, the Democrats and a group of progressive-minded senators, who have vowed to do all they can to stifle any move to have the charter amended.
Even without the contentious amnesty issue, the whole business of amending the charter has raised a big question about whether the entire exercise is meant for the good of the people in general, or for the good of the politicians? The answer to this is already clear – one need only peruse the parliamentary committee’s six proposed charter amendments, plus the amnesty recommendation.
One final question: Will national reconciliation be restored if all these proposals are implemented? The answers may vary according to the respondents of different political allegiances. A Puea Thai supporter may say yes, whereas a PAD supporter may say no. But any fair-minded individual who has observed the troubling political situation in this country for the past few years will see that the polarisation, characterised by the red-shirted, yellow-shirted and blue-shirted movements, has run so deep that merely amending some provisions in the charter will not heal the social wounds and restore reconciliation. Worse still, the amnesty issue may drive the wedge of division deeper and plunge the country into yet another crisis.
Certainly there is some merit in this attempt to amend the charter, though the chief beneficiaries will be the politicians. Hopefully, political tension will ease somewhat, once the politicians get what they want. http://www.bangkokpost.com/
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Displaced in Burma lacking medical aid
July 23, 2009 (DVB)–Internally displaced persons hiding in jungles in eastern Burma are suffering from outbreaks of malaria and dengue fever with almost no medicine or medical facilities, according a Karen aid group.
Around 9000 people in Bago division’s Taung-ngu district are internally displaced (IDPs) and are having difficulty accessing food, water and medicine, said the Committee for Internally Displaced Karen People (CIDKP).
The prevalence of mosquito-borne diseases soars during the rainy season, and is a particular threat to people living in bush areas.
“Their traditional method of making smoke to keep mosquitoes away is dangerous because the Burmese army might see [the smoke] and find them,” said Saw Eh Wah from the CIDKP.
At least two or three people in each household are infected with either malaria or dengue fever, many of whom are pregnant women and children under age of 10, he said.
No deaths have yet been reported and IDPs are said to be using traditional medicines to combat the diseases.
“There are no hospitals or clinics; sometimes they get one or two medical workers from the Karen National Union and the Free Burma Rangers [medical group],” he said, adding that the IDPs are using “herbs and tree roots” as medicine.
Burma is also home to over 500,000 internally displaced persons, the majority of which are in eastern Karen state.
Many of these have been forced out of their homes by fighting between the Burmese army and the Karen National Union.
A report released by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in June said that around 723,571 people are considered to be stateless in Burma, the world’s third highest population of stateless persons.
Reporting by Naw Noreen http://english.dvb.no/news.
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Asean Rejects Clinton’s Call To Expel Myanmar – Thai PM
Date : 07/23/2009 @ 4:48AM
Source : Dow Jones News
BANGKOK (AFP)–The Association of Southeast Asian Nations won’t consider expelling Myanmar over the detention of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, rejecting U.S. calls, Thailand’s prime minister said Thursday.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Thai television Wednesday that the regional bloc should consider kicking out the military-ruled member state if it doesn’t free the Nobel laureate, who is on trial in prison.
But Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, speaking as current chair of the 10-state grouping, said that while Asean and the West “have the same goal, we cannot implement the same policy.”
“There are not enough grounds to do that (expel Myanmar). We have already done what we can under the Asean mechanism,” said Abhisit, referring to the group’s public statements expressing concern over Suu Kyi’s detention.
“If Myanmar is expelled it will further isolate (the regime) and would that solve the problem?”
Myanmar – Asean’s problem child since it joined the bloc in 1997 – recently sparked outrage by putting Suu Kyi on trial over an incident in which an American man, John Yettaw, swam to her lakeside house uninvited.
The ruling junta snubbed U.N. Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon in early July by refusing to let him visit Suu Kyi in Yangon’s notorious Insein prison, deepening concerns in the international community.
U.S. President Barack Obama has described the court proceedings as a “show trial.”
The democracy icon has spent 13 of the last 19 years in detention since the junta refused to recognize her National League for Democracy’s landslide victory in elections in 1990.
But Abhisit has previously rejected the imposing of sanctions on Myanmar, such as those enforced by the U.S. and European Union.
“We are still insisting on our policy of constructive engagement and hope that the U.S. will understand,” Abhisit added.
Abhisit’s comments came on his return from the southern Thai resort island of Phuket where senior officials and ministers have held talks on Myanmar and the denuclearization of North Korea on the sidelines of Asia’s biggest security forum.
http://www.advfn.com/news_
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Myanmar activities fuel NKorea nuclear suspicions: expert
Simon Martin, Agence France-Presse
Seoul, July 23, 2009
First Published: 11:20 IST(23/7/2009)
There is no hard evidence that two of the world’s pariah states are sharing nuclear technology, but one US expert says some of Myanmar’s activities raise suspicions of such links with North Korea.
After years of rumours, the issue hit the headlines this week when US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton raised fears of possible nuclear and other military cooperation between Stalinist North Korea and military-ruled Myanmar.
“We know that there are growing concerns about military cooperation between North Korea and Burma, which we take very seriously,” Clinton said after talks with Thai premier Abhisit Vejjajiva, using Myanmar’s former name.
Clinton, visiting Thailand for Thursday’s Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum on security, also told the country’s Nation TV that “we worry about the transfer of nuclear technology.”
Suspicions of military links grew after a US navy destroyer last month began tracking a suspect North Korean ship reportedly heading for Myanmar. The cargo ship later turned back.
The Kang Nam 1 was the first ship to be shadowed since the UN Security Council in June slapped tougher sanctions on the North to try to shut down its nuclear and missile programmes.
The Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) has for years been watching for signs of nuclear projects in Myanmar.
“We have found no evidence of work by Burma on any major nuclear projects … but we are suspicious about some of Burma’s activities,” its president David Albright told AFP in emailed comments.
Albright cited the presence in Myanmar for at least the past two years of North Korea’s Namchongang Trading Corp. (NCG), or people associated with the company.
NCG was the key North Korean entity assisting a Syrian reactor project that was bombed by Israel in 2007, Albright said. It was one of five North Korean entities targeted in another round of UN sanctions last week.
One Seoul-based analyst said it could make sense for Myanmar to get into the nuclear business. “Myanmar would feel the temptation to get nuclear weapons to enhance the prestige of the military junta and fend off international pressure over its human rights,” said Jeung Young-Tae of the Korea Institute for National Unification.
Myanmar’s purchases of dual-use equipment including machine tools from Europe in 2006 and 2007 raised suspicions, Albright said. “The end-use declarations are inconsistent and the equipment … is odd for Burma to acquire. However, its potential use is hard to determine,” he said.
Albright also cited Myanmar’s past interest in buying a reactor from Russia. The project stalled due to foreign protests and supposed lack of money, raising the possibility that it may turn to North Korea. Concrete evidence is lacking.
“Over the last two years, we have analysed many photos of sites acquired by opposition groups, but we found that none of them had any convincing nuclear signatures despite the claims of these groups,” Albright said.
Baek Seung-Joo, of the Korea Institute for Defence Analyses, said the Southeast Asian state has no particular reason to crave such technology. “It has no hostile nuclear-armed neighbours. It has no direct threats from China, India or Pakistan.”
However, Baek said Myanmar has a strong need for the North’s conventional military equipment. Indications of a Yangon link to the North’s lucrative missile business emerged in June when Japanese police arrested three men for trying to export dual-use equipment to Myanmar via Malaysia.
The equipment, a magnetometer, can be used in missile guidance and control systems. Daniel Pinkston, senior analyst with the International Crisis Group, said Myanmar seems to lack the human resources to run a nuclear programme and there is no hard evidence of one.
“If it is starting at a very low level of development, North Korea could provide a lot of help covering the basics and training personnel,” he said. “The most important thing in any nuclear programme is the human resources.” http://www.hindustantimes.com/
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Clinton rallies Asia to back NKorea sanctions
Thursday, July 23 07:38 am
AFP Lachlan Carmichael
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Thursday urged Southeast Asian and other nations to enforce sanctions against North Korea after winning a surprising pledge of support from Myanmar.
Clinton was also expected to hold out both incentives and the threat of reprisals in a bid to prod the Stalinist state into scrapping its nuclear programme, amid concerns that Myanmar is now receiving help from Pyongyang.
“The United States will continue to work through every avenue to persuade North Korea to eliminate its nuclear programme and normalise relations with the world,” she told the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum.
“The ASEAN Regional Forum can play an important role in achieving this outcome,” she told her counterparts from the 10-member ASEAN and 16 dialogue partners meeting on the Thai island of Phuket.
“North Korea must end its pursuit of nuclear weapons and fulfil its pledges. North Korea’s response in turn has been more threatening behaviour,” she added.
Kim Jong-Il’s hermit regime bolted the six-party negotiations with the United States, Russia, China, Japan and South Korea after the UN Security Council censured it for a long-range rocket launch in April.
North Korea then conducted an underground nuclear test in May, triggering a Security Council resolution for beefed-up inspections of shipments going to and from the country and an expanded arms embargo.
Clinton — who met her counterparts from Russia, Japan, South Korea and China on Wednesday — called on the ARF participant states to continue carrying out the terms of the latest resolution.
“That means denying North Korean vessels access to any trans-shipment points and cooperating with the enforcement of financial sanctions against those designated entities that support North Korea’s efforts to acquire nuclear weapons,” she said.
Last week, in line with resolution 1874, the Security Council slapped sanctions on five individuals and five entities from North Korea known to be involved in Pyongyang’s banned nuclear and ballistic missile activities.
Japanese officials at the forum confirmed that Tokyo would freeze all their assets in Japan on Friday.
Clinton was expected to outline a new approach to Pyongyang later Thursday, including a bid to tempt the North into “full and verifiable denuclearisation” with “significant energy and economic assistance.”
“Our approach isolates North Korea, imposes meaningful pressure to force changes in its behaviour, and provides an alternative path that would serve everyone’s interests,” she was to say, according to excerpts from her remarks released in advance.
Clinton also sought to rally support over Myanmar after her aides held a rare meeting late Wednesday with a delegation from the ruling junta focusing on the North Korea sanctions and the treatment of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, a US official said Thursday.
Clinton had raised concerns earlier Wednesday over the possible transfer of nuclear technology from North Korea to Myanmar.
Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win pledged that his country would obey the UN sanctions on North Korea when he met his Japanese counterpart Hirofumi Nakasone on Wednesday, Japanese officials said.
“We are gratified by Burma’s willingness to enforce the Security Council resolution to curb North Korea’s nuclear ambitions,” Clinton said in her ARF speech, referring to Myanmar by its former name.
Clinton added that “we look forward to the day when Burma can be a fully integrated and respected member of the global community.”
In Wednesday’s meeting with the Myanmar officials, US officials “noted that the outcome of the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi would affect our willingness and ability to take positive steps in our bilateral relationship.”
Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi is currently on trial for breaching the terms of her house arrest after an incident in which an American man swam uninvited to her lakeside house in May.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/
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Free Suu Kyi and the US May Invest in Burma: Clinton
By WAI MOE Wednesday, July 22, 2009
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PHUKET, Thailand—The United States would be willing to expand its relations with Burma if the country’s military junta released opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday in Phuket.
“If she [Suu Kyi] were released, that would open up opportunities, at least for my country, to expand our relationship with Burma, including investments in Burma. But it is up to the Burmese leadership,” Clinton said.
The US has imposed economic sanctions on Burma since 1997, preventing new US investment in the military-ruled country. The US set tighter economic sanctions that banned importing goods from Burma in 2003, following an attack on Suu Kyi’s convoy by regime-backed thugs at Depayin in northern Burma.
At Wednesday’s press conference, Clinton repeated US concerns over the military cooperation between Burma and North Korea, and the pursuit of “offensive weapons including nuclear weapons.”
“There are a lot of issues that Burma raises for the entire region, not just the United States,” she said, adding that it was important to encourage the Burmese leadership to open up and pursue the model other Asean countries are following.
Clinton told reporters at the press conference in Bangkok on Tuesday that the Obama administration is concerned about the increasing military ties between North Korea and Burma.
“We know that there are also growing concerns about military cooperation between North Korea and Burma, which we take very seriously. It would be destabilizing for the region,” Clinton said. “It would pose a direct threat to Burma’s neighbors. And it is something, as a treaty ally of Thailand, that we are taking very seriously.”
Clinton, who is now attending the Asean Regional Forum in Phuket, said that Burma is moving in the opposite direction from other Southeast Asian countries, which, like the United States, want the Burmese military government to change their behavior.
Clinton added that the Burmese junta would have a better future by turning away from isolation and treating their own people better.
During an interview on The Nation Thai television network, Clinton said Asean should consider expelling Burma from the regional bloc if the junta fails to release pro-democracy leader Suu Kyi.
Before flying to Phuket, Clinton met several activists in Bangkok, including Dr Cynthia Maung, founder of the Mae Tao Clinic for Burmese migrants and refugees in the Thai-Burmese town of Mae Sot.
After fleeing the 1988 uprising, Cynthia Maung set up a clinic in Mae Sot where she and her medical workers treat refugees and migrant workers. The former US first lady Laura Bush visited her clinic in August 2008. http://www.irrawaddy.org/
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