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BURMA’S PRESIDENT HAS confirmed that his country bought weapons from North Korea during the past 20 years and assured his South Korean counterpart that it will no longer do so.
In a meeting with visiting South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, Burma President Thein Sein said his country never had nuclear cooperation with North Korea but did have deals for conventional weapons, Lee’s presidential Blue House said in an announcement Tuesday.
Thein Sein told Lee that Burma will no longer buy weapons from North Korea, honouring a UN ban, South Korean presidential official Kim Tae-hyo told reporters traveling with Lee, according to Blue House officials in Seoul.
Lee is on an official visit to Burma, the first by a South Korean president since North Korean commandos staged a bloody 1983 attack on visiting South Korean dignitaries.
Myanmar cut off diplomatic relations with North Korea after the attack, but restored them in 2007 as it sought allies in the face of international sanctions over its human rights record and failure to install a democratic government. Burma also began buying weapons from North Korea, and was suspected of obtaining nuclear weapons technology as well.
Burma is taking steps to emerge from international isolation after decades of military rule ended last year. Those changes were highlighted Tuesday when Lee met opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was held for years under house arrest but is now a member of Parliament.
Suu Kyi said after the 45-minute meeting that South Korea and Burma have much in common in having had to “take the hard road to democratic leadership.”
Lee, speaking through an interpreter, said he and Suu Kyi had agreed that “democracy, human rights and freedom must never be sacrificed because of development.”
He said he had praised Thein Sein’s contribution to democratisation when he met the Burma president on Monday.
He also said he told Thein Sein that he hoped his government “will refrain from any activities” with North Korea that could be considered in violation of UN Security Council resolutions. He described this as a formal request.
A UN resolution bars countries from obtaining all but small arms and light weapons from North Korea.
Lee on Tuesday made a brief visit to the site of the 1983 bombing, Martyr’s Mausoleum, a monument to Suu Kyi’s father, Burma independence hero Gen. Aung San. The attack left 21 dead, 17 of them South Korean, but failed to kill its target, then-President Chun Doo-hwan, who arrived late and was not harmed.
A statement from Lee’s office said he also agreed to expand South Korean financial assistance to Burma.
It said South Korea agreed to help Myanmar develop human resources, build a think tank and invite Burma students to South Korea in an effort to share its successful experience in economic development.
Arlene looks like the Undertaker in 1993
@mcdb06: Comment of the year tbf!
Is Mícheál wearing a poppy badge there!?
@mcdb06: LOL
@Seán O’Loughlin: Specsavers have an offer. You should avail of it
@mcdb06: looks like a broad black brimmer to me
@Ger Murphy: on his left lapel adjacent to his tie knot, that looks like a small metal/enamel poppy badge. Maybe it’s you that needs to go to Specsavers.
@Seán O’Loughlin: yes, we are witnessing the first FF member to openly were an emblem that commemorates British imperialism and crusades that brought slaughter around the globe, have land grabbed, murdered, bombed, pillaged & raped in Ireland
@Ger Murphy: the irony is lost on you man.
You should of at least looked at the picture before commenting
@Seán O’Loughlin: no.
@Chin Feeyin: I think you’ll find you’re wrong, he is wearing one, albeit small.
Why is the Taoiseach laying a wreath in remembrance of a foreign war in what is for the moment another jurisdiction?
Does he also go to France, Italy etc. to remember their war dead?
Following in the footsteps of FGers Kenny and Varadkar.
@Shedonny: Many Irish people have served in in the British Armed Forces and deserve to be remembered and acknowledged in an official capacity be the government of their home country.
@Shedonny: many Irish gave their lives for the freedoms that you enjoy today. Have a bit of class mate
@Shedonny:
He is respecting thousands and thousands of your (presumed) countrymen who fell in combat and offering solidarity to the victims of an atrocity.
Simple really.
Amazing how clearly you can see when you remove the bigot lenses.
@Shedonny: I think hes more comfortable remembering anything outside the Republican cause. ANYTHING.
@IAmTheTruth: You are asking a Shinbot tp have some class??? Come on
@Ajax Penumbra: This nonsense every November is beyond tedious. More civilians were killed by various militaries than military during both World Wars. Who remembers the civilians?
@Michael Kavanagh: Yet no unionist politican attends the annual famine commeration. It seems only the Irish who died in British uniform are worth commentating.
@IAmTheTruth: they did, you wear a lily.
@Teresa Ryan: Is there a memorial for civilian victims of the 1916 rising? Or is it just for republicans?
@Ajax Penumbra: is that the same for those that fight for all foreign war lords as mercenaries? ISIS? Taliban?
@Jamo: Republicans, RIC, British soldiers, Dublin Metropolitan Police and yes civilians. Erected 2016.
@Shedonny: he is honoring the dream of uniting Irishmen so that we can all live happily in a new shared Ireland. That which FF gets from Great Irishmen like Wolfe Tone and Parnell.
And not one of them wearing a mask…!!!
@Geraldine O’Riordan: 2 Metres apart?
@Enda Corry: but way outside his 5km! And don’t say it’s ‘essential ‘
@Geraldine O’Riordan: its outside!!
@Jess Kelly: Have a day off
@Kiern Mcx: he is telling the truth, I cant travel up north to see my 80 year old mother in law yet he can travel to lay a wreath. Might just head off this week, what’s good for the goose us good for the gander.
@Mona Murphy: The Taoiseach is an essential worker, whatever work that may be, whether you agree or disagree. I know, I hear you, it’s a tragic situation we are living in but that’s how it is.
@Jess Kelly: they’re exempt under the new travel guidelines which came into effect today. look it up
@Kiern Mcx: going to enniskillen was not essential he should not have attended this year.
@Mona Murphy: you missed the ‘whatever work that may be’ part.
Will the Nolan show clear the decks for a rant on this crowd not social distancing , no masks, and some travelling miles to be there.
Why is that Republican Martin wearing a Poppy?
@Paul Mc: because he’s not a Republican
@Jimmy Mac: “the Republican party”
@Paul Mc: Micheál Martin is as republican as Ian Paisley was
There’s 2 Fianna Fáils now
Majority Partitionist FF led by Micheál
Minority Republican FF led by Jim O’Callaghan
@Paul Mc: not wearing a poppy.
Ireland did not participate in World War 2, so why is the Taoiseach honouring the dead of a foreign power?
@Shedonny: Irish people fought in both world wars so maybe he is recognizing that
@FlopFlipU:
I know that many Irish people fought in both world wars (including some of my family), but they were in a BRITISH army, in a war declared by a BRITISH government. As you know Ireland was not self-governing at the time.
Most Irishmen who enlisted did so for economic reasons as a result of the dire economic situation in Ireland.
@Shedonny: yes but they were still IRISH, should they not be remembered or would you have them brushed under the carpet and forgotten to history
Outside and 2 m apart
5k rule not apply to martin
West brits showed is colours
he’s not wearing a mask. What’s the travel restrictions, or is there any?
Glad to see Arlene in THE BROAD BLACK BRIMMER respect ms foster lol
This is the centenary of a critical year of our war of independence. What acts of remembrance has our Taoiseach performed so far to honour the memory of those who fought to establish this nation?
Maith thú Taoiseach
Due to public health restrictions President Michael D laid a wreath in Saint Patrick’s Cathedral
@George Demo: Funny how most of the Irish who died are commerated in Protestant churches when most were Catholic. Could it be because Orange Order would forbid their members to attend a CC Church.
@Teresa Ryan: What is a CC Church?
@Teresa Ryan: When Douglas Hyde died in 1949 his funeral was held in St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The entire Irish Cabinet stayed outside the door. Can you guess why?
@sean o’dhubhghaill: I know why but what do you expect from the weasels who took over the state after the civil war? Besides, that was over 70 years ago. Doesn’t explain why the commerations take place in Protestant churches only when most Irish who died were Catholic.
@sean o’dhubhghaill: Catholic Church. Seriously!
@Teresa Ryan: I doubt very much if your average Protestant knows (or cares?) the reasons why various celebrations and commemorations are or are not carried out in Catholic churches. Perhaps the local Catholic Bishop could give you a summary of the Catholic Church’s laws surrounding war memorials.
@sean o’dhubhghaill: The Protestant churches are in control the narrative or more specifically, The Church of England and more specifically again, the British monarch, who of course is the Head of that church.
An Irishman was ten times more likely to be shot at dawn than any other British soldier. Far more likely to be the first over the top. Pure cannon fodder for the imperial army. All they did is help add more peoples and countries to the British empire, notably the Middle East.
And look at the mess left behind.
@George Demo: not quite
https://www.facebook.com/415677591792847/posts/4137640002929902/
I remember it so well, I never thought peace was possible after that.
The Good Friday Agreement really is a miracle.
Silly Toaiseach Micheal Martin shouldn’t travel to enniskillen due covid restricted 5km
Well Done Micheal A great Statesman
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