US presses Myanmar to cease complete military ties with North Korea

Washington: Myanmar's military has maintained ties with North Korea, even though the civilian-led government denies any cooperation, and the Trump administration is pressing for a complete break-off of remaining links, current and former US officials said.

Washington made its case to Myanmar's de facto leader, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and the army chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing during a visit to the country this week by the US special envoy for North Korea.

US Ambassador Joseph Yun's trip to Myanmar underlined continuing US worries over North Korean links that date back to Myanmar's decades of military rule, according to a senior State Department official on Friday.

"It was an opportunity to message that any engagement with North Korea, particularly military engagement, is counterproductive to trying to end this threat that North Korea poses to the region and to the globe," the official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

He



declined to specify what kind of military cooperation had continued between North Korea and Myanmar.

There was no immediate response to a request for comment from Myanmar's embassy in Washington.

The official said US sanctions leveled this year against the Myanmar army's procurement body were meant to "reflect long-standing concerns" about the military's dealings with Pyongyang.

Myanmar insists that arms deals and other military relations with North Korea stopped before Myanmar's transition to a nominally civilian government in 2011.

Myanmar's military was believed in the past to have imported North Korean-made weapons and North Korean personnel also worked in Myanmar, two former U.S. officials said.

Any residual ties may be unfinished business between the two armies dating back to Myanmar's previous military-led government, one of the former officials said, adding there was no indication of a "nuclear component to the relationship."

Relying on Diplomacy