New Delhi (Mizzima) – In a bid to give a leg up to bilateral ties between military-ruled Burma and North Korea, a sports and physical health delegation from North Korea is currently visiting Burma.
Burma’s state-owned newspaper, the New Light of Myanmar, on Wednesday carried a front page story of the Burmese Prime Minister General Thein Sein meeting the North Korean delegation led by Mr. Pak Hak Son, chairman of the physical education and sports commission, at the Government Office in Naypyitaw.
The newspaper did not mention details of the meeting.
The visit is a part of the two countries’ efforts to boost bilateral relations, which resumed in April 2007 after a break of a quarter century.
Burma and North Korea cut off diplomatic ties in 1983, following a bombing in Rangoon by North Korean secret agents who targeted the then visiting South Korean President Chun Doo-hwan.
The bomb explosion killed 21 people including four South Korean Cabinet ministers. Chun Doo-hwan, however, had a narrow escape.
After a long gap of 25 years, the two countries agreed to resume diplomatic ties in April 2007.
In October 2007, Burma’s Prime Minister Nyan Win paid the first visit to Pyong Yang. The visit was followed by exchanges including the visit of Burma's Sports Minister, Brig. Gen. Thura Aye Myint along with senior military officers, in early 2008.
Both Burma and North Korea have attracted international criticism, with the former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice terming them as “Outposts of tyranny”.
