Arakan News Agency
A Myanmar official said on Monday his government was not establishing military links with North Korea.
That came as a US diplomat in charge of North Korea’s policy, was likely to seek reassurance on efforts to isolate Pyongyang.
The US embassy in Yangon said envoy Joseph Y. Yun would meet with the state adviser, Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi and the army chief of staff in the capital Nay Pye Daw on Monday.
Yun attended a weekend conference in Singapore on the tension on the Korean Peninsula over the North’s ongoing nuclear and missile programs.
Ambassador Yun’s visit to Asia was announced after North Korea conducted an June 4 test of an intercontinental ballistic missile that Pyongyang claimed could carry a huge nuclear warhead. Experts say the range is capable of reaching Alaska.
Yun’s Myanmar visit, points to Washington’s concern that the Myanmar army, which once had ties with North Korea, is continuing to help the Kim Jong Il regime.
Kyaw Zia, permanent secretary of Myanmar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the United States had not told Myanmar what Yun would discuss during his visit.
“They were not very specific from the start, but we know he is the Special Envoy for North Korea,” Zia told Reuters.
His Government was committed to United Nations resolutions concerning North Korea.
“There are normal relations between the two countries, as far as I know, there are no such relations between the two armies, certainly not.”
In May, the United States asked Southeast Asian nations to make more efforts to isolate North Korea and efforts were increasing in this direction after the test of the ballistic missile launch on July 4.
