South Korea revealed on Wednesday that its prohibition on the selling of arms to Myanmar continued to exist in place even though it had welcomed an envoy appointed by its military rulers to an event highlighting and supporting the sale of weapons. Mr Thomas Andrews, United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, had expressed “a lot of problem” that Myanmar Ambassador Thant Sin was a part of the event hosted by South Korea’s Foreign Ministry in May, saying it had validated the junta and had doubts about South Korea’s ban.
Myanmar has been in destruction since the military ousted an elected government led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021, with most Western governments leaving the generals and not being in touch with arms sales but others, involving Russia and China, maintaining intimate rapports.
“Our government has been still strictly applying counter-measures in opposition to Myanmar since they were declared shortly after the outbreak of the destruction , involving a restriction on exports of military supplies, and there is no switch in this position,” the South Korean ministry revealed in a statement. South Korea’s Geneva-based diplomatic mission conveyed in July that the invitation was given to all nations in the 10-member Asean in line with “established practice” and was “completely unrelated” to its policy directed to Myanmar’s military.