Report on the Results of Visit to Myanmar and Thailand

during June 4-7, 2012

Hon. Chung Eui-yong, Co-Chairman of the Standing Committee and Secretary General of the ICAPP, visited Myanmar during June 4-7, 2012 and had meetings with leaders of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party(USDP) and the main opposition National League for Democracy(NLD). The following is the brief report on the results of the meetings.

Meetings at USDP

The meetings with the leaders of the USDP were conducted at the headquarters of the USDP in Naypyitaw, the administrative capital of Myanmar, on Tuesday, June 5, 2012. The first session was with Hon. U Tint Zaw, Head of International Relations Department, which lasted about an hour. After the first session, Chairman Chung was invited by Hon. U Htay Oo, Secretary General of the USDP, for a second session. The meeting lasted for another one hour and was also attended by Hon. Aung Naing Htun, Chief of Headquarters of the USDP, Hon. U Ngwe Htun, Head of Organization Department, and Hon. U Tint Zaw.  

Secretary General U Htay Oo, a former general and also former Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation, said that he had just returned from an overseas trip, including a visit to Beijing, where he had meetings with leaders of the CPC.  He said he was well aware of ICAPP activities.  (It was later known that, Hon. U Htay Oo attended the 3^rd General Assembly of the ICAPP held in Beijing in Sep. 2004) 

Secretary General U Htay Oo spent much of his time explaining about the efforts the USDP and the government of Myanmar, in particular its roadmap, to achieve full democracy in the country.  Chairman Chung highly complimented the leaders of the USDP and the government for their courage and determination for launching the process of political democratization in the country and welcomed the recent political developments in Myanmar.

Chairman Chung also informed that the ICAPP SC Members unanimously agreed to invite the major political parties of Myanmar to participate in future ICAPP activities.  In particular, the ICAPP Standing Committee decided to invite representatives of both the USDP and NLD to attend the 17^th SC Meeting to be held in Baku as special guests.  USDP thanked for the invitation and agreed to send representatives to the Baku meeting.  They said that representatives would be most probably nominated among the 24 members of its Central Committee.

Hon. U Htay Oo also agreed to consider accepting an ICAPP Mission during the period from July to September, 2012 and arrange meetings for the mission with top leaders of the party, including H.E. Thein Sein, President and Chairman of the USDP. The idea of holding a joint session between the ICAPP Standing Committee and the USDP's Central Committee in Naypyitaw during the visit of the ICAP Mission was also discussed.

Meeting at the National League for Democracy (NLD)

Chairman Chung visited NLD headquarters in Yangon in the afternoon of Wednesday, June 6, and had a meeting with Hon. U Tin Oo, Deputy Chairman, who was a former Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and in his 80's(born in 1927), and Hon. U Nyan Win, Spokesperson, who is in his 70's. Prior to the meeting Chairman Chung had been told that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Chairperson of NLD, might also be present at the meeting, but was told upon his arrival at the headquarters that she could not join the meeting due to other urgent matters.

Chairman Chung conveyed the congratulatory message on behalf of the ICAPP Standing Committee on their successful performance in the recently held by-elections and told that the ICAPP would support the government and the people of Myanmar in their efforts to achieve full democracy in the near future.

Deputy Chairman U Tin Oo acknowledged the receipt of the ICAPP's invitation letter to send NLD representative(s) to the 17^th SC Meeting in Baku, and said they would need more time to decide whom to nominate for the meeting. They indicated there was some difficulty in selecting a representative because most of senior leaders of the NLD were very old. Chairman Chung explained about the time constraint we had and requested to nominate its representative by early next week at the latest so that we could help arrange the issuance of entry visa and other logistic support.

Chairman Chung also informed the NLD of the plan to send the ICAPP mission to Myanmar during this summer, and what had been discussed in this regard with USDP officials the day before. NLD leaders acknowledged this information and said they would welcome the mission, but should report to other senior members of the party, including the Chairperson, to confirm the position of their party regarding the mission.

It seems every major decision has to be made by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi herself in the NLD.  So, after the meeting, Chairman Chung contacted the office of Madam Suu Kyi and received confirmation of her office that Madam Suu Kyi had been duly reported on the results of his meeting with her two top advisors.

Meeting with Leaders of Pheu Thai Party of Thailand

Chairman Chung also visited Bangkok on Thursday, June 7, on his way back to Korea, and visited Dr. Nalinee Taveesin, Minister Attached to the Prime Minister, one of the top leaders in the ruling Pheu Thai Party of Thailand.  General Nopparat Yodvimol, her advisor, was also present at the meeting.

At the meeting, it was discussed how to further promote more active participation of major political parties in Thailand, in particular Pheu Thai Party, in the future activities of the ICAPP. In this regard, Dr. Nalinee expressed the strong desire of her party to resume membership in the ICAPP Standing Committee. Chairman Chung informed her that the expansion of the SC membership would be on the agenda of the forthcoming SC Meeting in Baku and told that he would convey the wishes of the Pheu Thai Party to SC Members.