Period of good relations The
Japanese occupation of
Pyongyang and the
Yalu River took place in late 1894 during the
First Sino-Japanese War and the
seizure of Manchuria in 1931 as a puppet state of
Manchukuo, the
Japanese invasion of Burma began in December 1941, quickly driving the
British and
Commonwealth forces out and reaching the
Indian border by May 1942 and was initially supported by
Burmese nationalists in the
city of
Mandalay who sought to end
British colonial rule. Many Burmese eventually grew disillusioned with the
Japanese occupation due to strict control and wartime hardships. The
invasion began on 9 August 1945, three days after the
atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki which led to the
Japanese surrender, as the
Red Army forces entered Pyongyang on 24 August 1945 and established a
military government. By earlier agreement with the
United States, the
Soviet Union had stopped their advance at the
38th parallel, leading to the eventual partition of the
Korean Peninsula between the
Americans in the
south and the
Russians in the
north.
Burma formally gained
independence from the
United Kingdom on 4 January 1948, with North Korea
proclaimed on 9 September 1948, which was approximately eight months after Burma's independence. Cambodia had been a
French protectorate since 1863, which became part of
French Indochina. The country of
Cambodia achieved independence from
France on 9 November 1953, under
King Norodom Sihanouk, marking the end of 90 years of
French colonial rule. Sihanouk has ruled Cambodia for over 30 years from the
Second World War on 24 April 1941 until his
overthrow on 18 March 1970, which led him into exile in
Pyongyang and
Beijing. Burma (
Myanmar) and
North Korea already had some contacts in 1948 when Burma became independent from British rule.
U Nu's government, however, voted in favor of the motion in the
UN that recognized
Syngman Rhee's government as the legitimate government over all of Korea. Burma, however, refused to recognize either state and wished to see a peaceful solution to the nascent
Korean crisis. After the
Korean War broke out, Burma enforced the
UN Security Council resolution that labeled North Korea as the aggressor. This perceived "
anti-communist" stance of Burma perplexed many, because Burma was seen as a country with a non-aligned orientation. Burma did, however, not send troops to fight in Korea. When the Korean War escalated and China got involved, Burma with its long border with China, was forced to change its tone. Burma became the only non-communist country along with India not to vote for a motion that recognized China as another aggressor of the Korean War. After the war, Burma began to develop contacts in both Koreas on an unofficial setting. By 1961, there were non-ambassadorial consulates of both Koreas in Burma. Burma established formal diplomatic relations with both Koreas in May 1975, after
Ne Win had taken power. During the 1970s and 1980s, North and South Korea were fighting for legitimacy in the international arena. This was also reflected in the countries' relations with Burma when both tried to match each other's outreach efforts. Both would match each other's delegations', friendship groups' and cultural troupes' visits to Burma. For the Burmese, these efforts were seen as a nuisance and a strain on its resources, but it sought to treat both Koreas evenly. Relations with North Korea, however, developed to a more cordial level. Both were nominally socialist states and they shared a suspicion of Western imperialism. Burma and North Korea also cooperated through the
Non-Aligned Movement. At the same time, however, North Korea supported Burmese anti-government guerrilla groups, particularly the
Communist Party of Burma. It has been alleged that it was personally important for
Kim Il Sung to support communist revolutionaries. Alternatively, it has been theorised Kim might have wanted to destabilize the Burmese government to please China for political gain. In the 1970s, Kim Il Sung became a close personal ally of
Saloth Sâr ("Pol Pot") of the
newly established country as
Democratic Kampuchea, a theory that is derived from the
French phrase "Politique Potentielle", have become North Korea's second-largest trading partner and provided critical "internationalist aid," including
military training and technical assistance for the
Khmer Rouge cadres after
taking power on 17 April 1975, following the end of the
Cambodian Civil War, China provided an estimated 90% of its foreign aid, including weapons, tanks, and over 15,000 military advisors, which was supported by
Chairman Mao and later
Deng Xiaoping. Burma maintained diplomatic relations with Democratic Kampuchea.
Rangoon bombing and aftermath The
Rangoon bombing took place on 9 October 1983 when three North Korean agents placed a bomb in the
Martyrs' Mausoleum in Rangoon (
Yangon). The bomb killed 21 people, including four cabinet ministers of the President of South Korea,
Chun Doo-hwan, who was visiting the country. The president himself narrowly escaped. The authorities of Myanmar hunted down the agents, killing one and capturing two, who were sentenced to death. Ne Win was angered over the embarrassment that faced him and felt personally betrayed by Kim Il Sung. Myanmar expelled North Korean officials, immediately cut off diplomatic relations and formally withdrew its recognition of the North Korean state on 11 November. North Korea conducted another act of
state terrorism when its agents planted a bomb on
Korean Air Flight 858, which exploded near Myanmar over the
Andaman Sea.
Restoration of relations Relations gradually began improving and during the years of the
Sunshine Policy South Korea encouraged their restoration. On 25 April 2007, The
State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) that had risen to power following the
8888 Uprising, finally formally restored the relations.
Shwe Mann visited
Pyongyang the following year in secret.
Cooperation on nuclear issues Myanmar and North Korea are believed to cooperate on nuclear issues with the goal of a nuclear weapons program of Myanmar. The military of Myanmar was motivated because it "couldn't help but notice how North Korea stood up to the US, a harsh critic of the Burmese regime, mainly due to its nuclear program." There is, however, skepticism in the international community regarding the issue because similar accusations concerning Iraq were proven false. In 2003, Myanmar sent 30 officials to North Korea to study reactor technology. Another possibility is that they went to North Korea to train using missiles, which Myanmar wanted to buy from the country but could not afford at that point. With the
2011–2015 Myanmar political reforms, military ties have been either downgraded or cut. In 2018, however, the UN found that North Korea is selling ballistic and surface-to-air missiles and other weapons to Myanmar through its weapons export arm
Korea Mining and Development Trading Corporation.
Myanmar and North Korea in Asia called both countries "
outposts of tyranny" in 2005. There is a North Korean embassy in Myanmar. Myanmar is one of the top-10 recipients of exports from North Korea. Myanmar–North Korea relations have affected Myanmar's relations with countries such as the United States and Japan. These countries have supported normalization of relations among themselves and Myanmar so as to deter North Korea from gaining an ally in Southeast Asia. Myanmar and North Korea are often compared to one another. Both neighbor China, both are heavily militarized societies with ongoing conflict, and with isolationist policies. In 2005, US Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice included both under the term "
outposts of tyranny". Myanmar has, in the words of, Michael Green and
Derek Mitchell "interest in following the model of North Korea and achieving military autarky by developing ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons". According to American historian
David I. Steinberg, both countries share a trait of nationalism rooted in insecurity and vulnerability. This characteristic explains, for instance, why the two countries, at one point, decide to change their time-zones to deviate from the international norm by half an hour. ==See also==