Experts say Seoul needs to beef up its human rights diplomacy on top of economic relations


NAYPYIDAW ― South Korea is stepping up to make inroads into Myanmar as the Southeast Asian country’s fledgling reforms widen access to its huge natural resources, market potential and geopolitical position.

President Lee Myung-bak arrived in Naypyidaw on Monday, becoming the first Korean leader to land in the country since 1983 when a North Korean terrorist bombing killed 17 Seoul officials accompanying then-President Chun Doo-hwan.

Bilateral ties have also been frayed for decades due to the Myanmarese military rulers’ oppression of democracy and alleged clandestine relations with North Korea.

Experts say Lee’s landmark trip may help ease tensions between the two nations, and should be followed up on with more realistic and flexible policies from Seoul, capitalizing on its experiences of fast growth and democratization, and its growing cultural power in Asia, experts say.

“While South Korea has ridden on its ally America’s hard-line policy toward Myanmar, though it did not implement specific sanctions against it, South Korea does not have any clear policy toward it,” said Jang Jun-young, senior research fellow at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.

“Korea is lacking energy and resources while Myanmar is rich in them. To top it off, people there have some affinity for Korea due to its pop culture whereas Myanmar had historical friction with China, India and Japan. Thus, there is room for smooth cooperation between Korea and Myanmar.”

To reward the nominally civilian government’s democratic reforms, the West recently moved to lift or ease their decades-old sanctions against the country’s military dictatorship, brutal crackdowns on democracy movements and human rights abuses.

The development stoked competition over Myanmar’s untapped reserves of oil, natural gas, minerals and other resources which have been largely dominated by China.

While the U.S. had kept a tough stance on Myanmar, China made aggressive forays into the country, hoping to utilize its geostrategic location to advance into the Indian Ocean where global powers vie to secure their sea lanes of communication and maritime hegemony.

But Myanmar has recently tried to reduce its diplomatic reliance on Beijing and sought to balance its foreign policy and diversify diplomatic relations.

“Bordering China, India and other nations in Southeast Asia, Myanmar has the potential of becoming an economic hotspot linking the neighboring states whose combined population amounts to 3 billion,” said Park Na-ri, researcher at Korea Institute for International Economic Policy

“Its population of nearly 60 million indicates Myanmar’s potentially massive domestic demand. Also with its good-quality yet low-cost labor force, it can become a destination for processing trade.”

Despite such economic potential, trade between South Korea and Myanmar has been constrained by Myanmar’s closed door policy and international sanctions. Last year, the two-way trade volume reached just $970 million.

As a realistic approach, Seoul can use the growing popularity of its culture among Myanmarese people, Jang of HUFS noted.

“We can perhaps establish facilities in Myanmar that teach Korea’s popular culture and language so that we can reach out to the people through public diplomacy, a way through which we can also strengthen our soft power,” he said.

“South Korea and Myanmar, whose societies have been influenced by Confucianism and Buddhism, respectively, share a similar culture in which they respect the elderly, family and community values. Having said that, it could be possible for Myanmar to readjust and adopt Korea’s development model.”

Some experts pointed out that rather than pursuing a short-sighted policy focusing on economic benefits, Seoul needs to speak up about Myanmar’s human rights conditions and help its reforms with Korea’s experience of democratization. Activists argued that the Myanmarese opposition forces’ calls for help to address the issue have largely fallen on deaf ears in Seoul.

After having been under British colonial rule for more than six decades from 1886, the country may think of the West’s calls for liberalization and democracy as hypocritical.

But Seoul, which suffered from decades of Japanese colonization, can be in a better position to tackle the issue, experts said.

“South Korea has good international records in terms of human rights and democracy and its national is now heading the U.N., an international organization focusing on the issues,” said Park Eun-hong, a social science professor at Sungkonghoe University.

“With this reputation, rather than pursuing a business-focused diplomacy, it is also crucial to establish our diplomatic strategy stressing the importance of human rights. From the long-term perspective, this would be a substantial diplomatic asset for Korea.”

Currently, some 170 South Korean firms, mostly from the manufacturing and service sectors, operate in Myanmar. South Korea ranked fourth last month in terms of investment in the country, after China, Thailand and Hong Kong.

By Song Sang-ho, Korea Herald correspondent
(sshluck@heraldcorp.com)