RANGOON — Burma’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday expressed concern over North Korea’s claim that it successfully tested a hydrogen bomb on Jan. 6.
“The test is in violation of the relevant United nations security Council Resolutions and undermines the international non-proliferation regime and increases tension in the Korean Peninsula,” the ministry said in a statement.
Burma is a member state of the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone (SEANWFZ), and as such expressed its commitment to nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
Burma and North Korea officially restored diplomatic ties in 2007, followed shortly by a visit from then-Foreign Minister Nyan Win in 2008. Relations had been severed since a 1983 bombing in Rangoon by North Korean agents, which killed 21 people including four South Korean cabinet members.
In February 2014, North Korea’s Ambassador to Burma met with Vice President Sai Mauk Kham to discuss “mutual amity and development, according to reports in state media. Just two months later, a delegation representing North Korea’s Foreign Ministry reportedly met with their Burmese counterparts to discuss improving diplomatic ties.