UN office faults Korea for inviting Myanmar envoy to arms event

Diplomacy

UN office faults Korea for inviting Myanmar envoy to arms event

Published: 09 Aug. 2023, 15:11

Ambassador of Myanmar to Korea Thant Sin, left, on a K-2 tank during a Korean arms promotional event in Pocheon, Gyeonggi, on May 2. [NEWS1]

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) took Korea to task for inviting the ambassador of Myanmar to Korea to a promotional event showcasing Korean tanks and weapons.

“It is especially concerning that the Government of the Republic of Korea would invite a representative of the State Administration Council to an event promoting weapons exports given the junta’s responsibility for well-documented attacks on civilian populations,” said Tom Andrews, the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, in his letter to the Korean government on June 5, recently released on the OHCHR's website.

The State Administration Council is Myanmar's ruling military junta.

Myanmar’s Ambassador to Korea Thant Sin was one of dozens of diplomats who visited the Korean military’s training ground in Pocheon, Gyeonggi in May.

Members of the diplomatic corps climbed into a K-2 Black Panther or K-21 tank, and inspected up close the K-1 tank, K-808 wheeled armored personnel carrier, K-600 combat engineering vehicle, the K-9 Thunder and K-239 Chunmoo system.

Andrews said he was “extremely concerned” with the Korean government’s decision and questioned whether it was suggesting it could even sell weapons to Myanmar and its military regime.

“His reported participation in the event legitimizes an illegal and brutal military junta and raises doubts about the Republic of Korea’s policy concerning arms transfers to the Myanmar military.”

Thant Sin was photographed waving atop a tank during the event.

He has been the ambassador of Myanmar to Korea since 2019 and continued his tenure even after the February 2021 coup in Myanmar.

The Korean government slapped unilateral sanctions on Myanmar in March 2021, banning any arms exports to the country.

The Korean government, in its response to the UN issued via its embassy in Geneva in July, said that the invitation extended to the ambassador of Myanmar was part of those extended to “all Asean countries in accordance with established practice.”

Anti-coup protesters run as one of them discharges a fire extinguisher to counter the impact of tear gas fired by riot policemen in Yangon, Myanmar, March 3, 2021. [AP/YONHAP]

“The invitation does not mean any intention to grant arms transfers to the Myanmar military or other entities in Myanmar,” it said, adding there is no change in the Korean government’s policy on banning arms sales to Myanmar and its support for the restoration of democracy in the country.

But officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs present at the event, which included the second Vice Foreign Minister Lee Do-hoon, had offered to connect any diplomats present with military manufacturers in Korea.

The event, taking place on May 2, took place just a month after the military regime in Myanmar had carried out an airstrike in Sagaing Region that killed approximately 170 people, including dozens of children and women, according to the OHCHR.

Officials of the Yoon Suk Yeol government, including the president, have vowed repeatedly to pursue values-based diplomacy since its inauguration last year.

People protest during a demonstration to mark the second anniversary of Myanmar's 2021 military coup, outside the Embassy of Myanmar in Bangkok, Thailand, on Feb. 1. [REUTERS]

BY PARK HYUN-JU, ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]