UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Monday welcomed a U.S. senator’s success in winning the release of an American jailed in Myanmar and for meeting with detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Myanmar’s military junta freed John Yettaw during Senator Jim Webb’s visit to the Southeast Asian nation last week. The American politician also met junta leader Than Shwe Saturday before visiting Suu Kyi at a guest house.

“(Ban) welcomes his engagement with Myanmar’s leaders as well as Daw Aung San Suu Kyi toward a peaceful, united, democratic Myanmar,” U.N. spokeswoman Marie Okabe said in a statement. “The secretary-general also welcomes the release of Mr. (John) Yettaw on humanitarian grounds.”

Webb, a Democrat, landed in Bangkok Sunday with Yettaw, whose swim to Suu Kyi’s home in May led authorities to extend her detention. Myanmar officials said Yettaw’s uninvited stay breached the terms of the Nobel Peace laureate’s house arrest.

Ban met with Than Shwe and the other junta generals last month in Myanmar’s new capital, Naypyidaw. The generals rejected Ban’s request to also meet with Suu Kyi, citing her trial as the reason.

The trial ended last week with the extension of Suu Kyi’s house arrest. Two days later, the U.N. Security Council voiced “serious concern” about the verdict, in a watered-down statement designed to win the consent of China and Russia.

The statement called for the release of all political prisoners in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.

Although Britain and other Western countries would like to see U.N. sanctions imposed on Myanmar, Western council diplomats say that China, a neighbor and trade partner of Myanmar, opposes them.

Beijing is backed by Russia, which, like China, is a permanent veto-wielding member of the Security Council.

(Reporting by Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Paul Simao)