Seoul "Regrets" Expulsion of Lawmak

[FreeBurma@xxxxxxx]

Subject: Seoul "Regrets" Expulsion of Lawmaker from Burma

 .c The Associated Press 

SEOUL, Feb. 10 (Kyodo) -- The government expressed ''regret'' Monday over
Myanmar's refusal to allow a South Korean lawmaker to enter the country, a
Foreign Ministry spokesman said. 

Yoo Kwang Sok, director general of the Asian affairs bureau at the South
Korean Foreign Ministry, expressed Seoul's view when Myanmar's ambassador to
Seoul, Phone Myiint, was called to the ministry and asked for an explanation
from Myanmar, the official said. 

Kim Sang Woo, a lawmaker of the main opposition National Congress for New
Politics (NCNP), said in a press release he was manhandled at Yangon's
international airport last Thursday on the orders of Myanmar's ruling junta,
the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC). 

Kim, who was trying to visit Myanmar to meet with pro-democracy leader Aung
San Suu Kyi and deliver a personal letter to her from NCNP leader Kim Dae
Jung, said it was in violation of his status as holder of a diplomatic
passport and a valid visa. 

He was expelled from Myanmar after being forcibly taken to his plane at the
airport. 

Myanmar's military intelligence reportedly said in a statement that Kim, a
member of the parliamentary foreign relations committee, was refused entry on
arrival in Yangon because he had a history of interfering in Myanmar's
internal affairs. 

AP-NY-02-10-97 0557EST