Myanmar names 1st ambassador to DPRK after resumption of ties

Myanmar names 1st ambassador to DPRK after resumption of ties
www.chinaview.cn 2007-08-01 11:01:46

YANGON, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar named its first Ambassador to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Wednesday after resumption of diplomatic ties with the country in April this year, according to the official newspaper New Light of Myanmar.
Myanmar's appointment of the new ambassador U Thein Lwin to Pyongyang, concurrently as ambassador to China, signified a step forward of the full restoration of the diplomatic ties between the two Asian nations.
The two countries agreed to re-establish diplomatic ties for their common national interest during a visit to Yangon by DPRK Vice Foreign Minister Kim Yong Il in April this year.
Whether Pyongyang will run an embassy in Myanmar remains unknown.
A joint communiqué released in Pyongyang in April said that the two countries agreed to re-establish the diplomatic ties at ambassadorial level, expressing their assurances that the re-establishment responds to the national interests of both countries and will consolidate the strengthening of international peace and cooperation.
Myanmar and DPRK broke off diplomatic relations on Nov. 4, 1983 after DPRK agents were charged with masterminding a deadly bomb attack on a visiting South Korean government delegation, led by then President Chun Doo Hwan, on Oct. 9 the same year at the Martyrs' Mausoleum in Yangon underneath the world's famous Shwedagon Pagoda where a respect paying ceremony was about to take place.
The bomb blast killed 17 members of Chun's entourage including four cabinet ministers, injuring 17 others. In the incident, four Myanmar officials also died.
Editor: Wang Hongjiang