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Korea joins condemnations of executions in Myanmar

Published: 26 Jul. 2022, 16:46

In this file photo, Myanmar democracy activist Kyaw Min Yu, right, is welcomed by his wife Nilar Thein and their daughter at the domestic airport in Yangon, Myanmar, on Jan. 13, 2012. Kyaw Min Yu was among four activists executed in Myanmar, its military junta announced Monday. [EPA/YONHAP]

Korea joined the United States, Britain, Australia, Japan and the European Union to condemn the Myanmar military's execution of four activists on Monday.

“The Myanmar military regime’s executions of pro-democracy and opposition leaders are reprehensible acts of violence that further exemplify the regime’s disregard for human rights and the rule of law,” reads a joint statement issued by leaders of Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Korea, Britain, the United States and the European Union on Monday.

“We urge the regime to release all those unjustly detained, grant full and independent access to prisons and fulfill its obligations under the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (ASEAN) Five-Point Consensus to seek peace through dialogue, not further violence,” it said.

The statement followed the execution of four men -- Phyo Zeya Thaw, Kyaw Min Yu, Hla Myo Aung and Aung Thura Zaw -- announced by the military junta on Monday.

All of the men were convicted in “closed trials that fell far short of international standards,” according to the Human Rights Watch.

A military court sentenced Kyaw Min Yu and Phyo Zeya Thaw to death for violation of a counterterrorism law, and Hla Myo Aung and Aung Thura Zaw for killing a woman whom they allegedly believed was an informant for the military.

It was the first time in decades that the country carried out judicial executions, according to the United Nations. One of the last dates back to 1976.

Screen capture of the joint statement on U.S. State Department website. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

“Through this joint statement, we conveyed the severe opposition of the international community to the Myanmar military regarding its attempt to suppress the anti-military forces more strongly through the extreme method of the death penalty,” said the Foreign Ministry in a statement Tuesday.

The UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, condemned the junta for the executions.

“I am outraged and devastated at the news of the junta’s execution of Myanmar patriots and champions of human rights and democracy,” he said in a statement released Monday. “My heart goes out to their families, friends and loved ones and indeed all the people of Myanmar who are victims of the junta’s escalating atrocities.”

Andrews called on all ASEAN members and their leaders, as well as the UN, to take action “commensurate with this outrage."

Myanmar has been ruled by a military junta since a coup in February 2021, reversing 10 years of attempts to democratize. There are dozens in the country who have received death sentences since 2014, according to the UN.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for the immediate release of all political prisoners in Myanmar in June.

BY ESTHER CHUNG [[email protected]]