The Kawkareik Pass across the
Tenasserim Hills is named after this town. The Pass was the access route from Thailand used by the
Japanese Fifteenth Army, consisting of two infantry divisions under Lieutenant General
Shōjirō Iida, when it invaded the southern Burmese division of Tenasserim (now Mon State, Kayin State and Tanintharyi Region) in January 1942. In January 2009, the forces of the
Karen National Union and the
Democratic Karen Buddhist Army clashed outside Kawkareik. The DKBA set up their military command post inside the town, and although DKBA soldiers burned down several civilian houses and detained dozens of citizens in villages across the border in Thailand, Kawkareik was left intact. During the
Myanmar civil war that began in 2021, the
battle of Kawkareik took place in late October 2022. The
Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) stepped-up fighting in southeastern Myanmar and besieged the town. At the time, it appeared to be a significant first seizure of a major town by anti-junta forces since the renewed civil war. ==Climate==