hankyoreh

A letter sent from Aung San Suu Kyi to former First Lady Lee Hui-ho.

By Cho Ki-weon

“Up to the present, there has been much interest in us in the West. But we also need interest from the East, fellow Asians.”

The Hankyoreh conducted an exclusive interview with Burmese democracy movement symbol Aung San Suu Kyi, 65, on Dec. 16, the first Korean media to interview her since her release from house arrest. “I am really hoping for support from South Korea, since Koreans, who have been through a similar experience, should have much interest in Burma.”

The interview took place at the Yangon office of the National League for Democracy (NLD), the party Suu Kyi leads.

“South Koreans, who have experienced rule by a military dictatorship, can understand and help better the Burmese democratic struggle,” she said. “South Koreans should help so that the situation in Burma gets better.”

The NLD prefers to use the term “Burma,” the name of the country before the military junta changed it to the current name, Myanmar.

“I really respect and am grateful to late Korean president Kim Dae-jung, for his special interest in my release and the Burmese democratization movement,” she said. “In the past, when supporters of me and our movement took power, they would change their position out of consideration for their official relations with the current Burmese government. Kim, however, was not like that: he continued to support us.”

She asked the Hankyoreh to tell former First Lady Lee Hee-ho that she respected her husband and his family, and hopes to meet her one day.

Through the interview, Suu Kyi and Lee exchanged letters. In the letter she sent to Suu Kyi, Lee said Suu Kyi is a victor against hardship and adversity. She said it was a shame that Kim could not meet Suu Kyi before he died, and that she hoped for Burmese democracy. In her response, Suu Kyi said she felt a sense of loss when Kim passed away, and that she would never forget his support.

Suu Kyi, who has been placed under house arrest three times for a combined 14 years, stressed dialogue as the solution of Burmese democratization. Her proposal for dialogue includes not only all of Myanmar’s citizens, but also the military junta that ignored the results of the democratic elections of 1990 and repressed her and her party.

“The solution to Burmese democratization is simple, but executing the solution is not,” she said. “We need to make the junta understand that we are not opposing junta people, but rather working toward Burmese development.”

As for why the NLD boycotted last month’s general election, Suu Kyi said, “We could not accept an election that started from the premise of denying the results of the 1990 general election, which the NLD won overwhelmingly.” She also said, “I believe that to participate in an elections that my imprisoned comrades cannot would be a betrayal.”

On this day, too, Suu Kyi had a busy schedule, with interviews with four media outlets from the United Kingdom and Japan and a meeting with an ambassador. Some have voiced criticism that Suu Kyi no longer has political clout or that the Myanmar democracy movement is overly dependent on her personally. In spite of this, she continues to meet with people to plead for the urgency of Myanmar democracy and dialogue, and the reverberations of the non-violent pacifism she has stressed despite the junta’s long-time suppression of her have been great. Suu Kyi continues to give her all for the democracy struggle.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]