Myanmar hopes to build more friendly relationship with South Korea
The Embassy of Myanmar in South Korea held an event aimed at celebrating the 79th Armed Forces Day in Seoul earlier this week along with a host of participants.
Myanmar Amb. U Thant Sin emphasized that historically, South Korea and Myanmar had been regularly proceeding with military training programs, joint exercises, and military exchanges such as defense industry cooperation.
While Myanmar promotes its friendly relations with ASEAN member states, neighboring countries, and international communities of diverse spheres, Thant Sin said Myanmar is expecting the interests of South Korea to be enlarged in terms of peace talks on the Peninsula.
For reference, Armed Forces Day, also known as Revolution Day, is the holiday of the Tatmadaw, which means Armed Forces, and is celebrated on March 27 every year.
It commemorates the start of the Burmese Army’s resistance to the Japanese occupation in 1945, according to the Myanmar Embassy.
Its another host of Military, Naval and Air Attache BG. Wint Thu pledged on the podium that he would contribute to enhancing Myanmar-South Korea relations by building a more friendly relationship between the two armed forces.
According to BG. Wint Thu, Myanmar is a country composed of eight major ethnicities and 135 minor ones. After the independence, ethnic armed organizations were organized, as the result of a governance system that divided and ruled during the colony period.
Until today, these organizations are fighting against the government with the help of some external forces, Wint Thu said.
Currently, there are 18 such organizations in total, including 10 ones that signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement with the Myanmar government. The remaining eight are still fighting against the Myanmar Army, according to Wint Thu.
“Therefore, as I presented earlier, since there are several ethnic armed organizations in Myanmar, I think everyone can understand how important the country’s military role is in such turbulent situations,” he said.
Among Diplomatic Corps., Belarus Amb. Andrew CHERNETSKY and Laos Amb. Songkane LUANGMUNINTHONE showed up at the gathering.
The head of Myanmar’s ruling military council also marked the Armed Forces Day on March 27 with a speech claiming that the nation’s youth were being tricked into supporting the resistance against army rule and that ethnic armed groups allied with the resistance engage in drug trafficking, natural resources smuggling, and illegal gambling.
Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing spoke in the capital, Naypyitaw, where thousands of military personnel paraded in an annual show of strength.